THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER:- ISSUE 48

Author

Howard Hockin
July 11, 2025

Hello, and welcome to Issue 48 of the 93:20 Newsletter. Another sober week, and a legend departed, with our thanks. Plenty to talk about, though I wish I didn’t have to with much of it..

Hopefully the accompanying book will be out within a week or so, and am very excited to get it out. Hopefully some of you will want to buy it!

Off we go.

Doing The Right Thing

This section comes with a warning, but more one of reassurance. I am about to discuss a now-named (ex) Premier League footballer who has been charged with a number of offences. He is called Thomas Partey, in news that has surprised no one.

The reassurance is that I will not be discussing him at all. Nor the case, the possibility of guilt or innocence, or anything legal. It should be obvious why. I am not going to be wading in, with strong opinions and demands for action. I would consider that completely inappropriate.

For me, here is one key thing to consider, only one thing worthy of discussion right now – what could, and should, Arsenal have done differently?

And everyone has an opinion on this.

Some would argue, badly, that if he were to be eventually found not guilty, then Arsenal’s actions to this point will have been vindication. A terrible argument, whether you think they have acted perfectly or terribly. Because we can only judge their actions on how we feel, as decent human beings, they should have acted, over a three-year period, with the information they had, which is not much different to the information we all had, over this “unnamed premier league footballer”.  How the legal system now deals with the matter does not change the past. Arsenal at no point knew of his guilt or innocence. They do not have a police section of the club, nor forensic experts. The future is, for this specific debate, irrelevant. He was very much persona non grata off the pitch, but very much persona grata on it, making 108 appearances after he was first arrested. Partey has been arrested, questioned by police and bailed seven times. Arsenal cannot be judge and jury over this, and nor can any of us, but how could they ignore that, and carry on as normal?

Benjamin Mendy and others will be referenced, and Arsenal will claim there is not much they could do when no charges had been brought. It shouldn’t really have taken this long. Dragging on for three years has benefitted no one. And especially those most overlooked, the alleged victims, who would surely want resolution quicker than this.

There was one clear option available to them though – don’t play him. Quite simple, really. Gardening leave of sorts, an acceptable compromise for a player with terrible allegations against him, from multiple women, but without charges pressed as investigations continued.

It plays in to the wider issue of clubs protecting assets, and letting their morals slide due to financial implications, and Arsenal are not alone in this respect. It is much easier to sack a club doctor who angered the manager or expressed pro-Palestine views than target a manager or player who may well have done things far more befitting of punishment. When a “star” player stubs a cigar out in the eye/face of a youth player, the youth player is moved on. The more money that has seeped into the sport, the more valuable the assets have become, and the more the assets are protected. This is the natural consequence of prioritising balance sheets and results over morality. Say something racist, eat an opposition player (or at least have a nibble), drink-drive, attack someone, fail a drugs test, whatever, just go for it, you’re worth £80m, so we will turn a blind eye, and talk of education and rehabilitation rather than punishment.

At the very least, the club itself needs to review its processes and how it dealt with a difficult issue. Did they enter into talks over a new contract, which would be inexcusable if so? Did their safeguarding team really give short shrift to one of the alleged victims, as she claims? This and more needs to be considered, and a repeat avoided in the future, for Arsenal, and others. After all, what sort of message did this send to the Women’s team, or any female staff at the club? This has not portrayed the club in a good light, and its manager in an even worse one.

It is common knowledge that most rapes are never successfully prosecuted – the conviction rate in the UK is soul-sappingly low, one of many reasons many women will not report incidents. The future may not give us answers, and I will not make assumptions. A horrible situation in many respects, and one that leaves a sour taste for so many reasons.

A sober week indeed. After the Weekend Show podcast went out, I saw a message that then appeared to be deleted, noting that a listener had enjoyed the podcast, but that we did not speak enough about Diogo Jota. I am not typing these words to pile in on this opinion, I was conflicted prior to recording on how to handle the terrible news, and still am not sure what the right approach was. I’m not very good in such situations, and got a frog in my throat the first time I mentioned him on the podcast, and had to pause for a minute. But that message I could not locate did get me thinking about how we all deal with news like this. There is no right way to act, and as I said on the pod, there are few words we could offer, because some things are just too terrible to discuss, and doing so would not add anything to the narrative, or help anyone in any way. What can you say about a terrible tragedy?

Of course Liverpool fans will want to talk, and should, as will all fans who have seen Jota and Silva wear their club’s shirt. Those that have not are (of course, once more) free to talk too. But I do not feel an obligation to, just because I am hosting a football podcast. I had no words to offer, apart from the few you have previously read in last week’s newsletter. Life is fleeting, and we all must deal with that the best way we can. He was an excellent, but injury-prone, footballer and clearly a very, very decent human being, and the latter means more to me than anything else in life, but I have nothing else to write that could possibly be of interest to you or anyone else.

KYLE WALKER

And so our club captain departs, with our thanks for everything. Recency bias will skew his legacy for a few, wrongly. We shouldn’t ignore that slide, but more pertinent is everything he achieved at the club. Another brilliant purchase, when all is said and done.

He had his flaws, as you will be aware, mostly off the pitch. I got the hang of it around the age of five, so in a similar vein, I expect a club captain to be toilet trained. I'd prefer them not to have a weekly podcast during their decline. I'd prefer a media trained captain, rather than one that puts his foot in it pretty much every time he speaks. Considering Burnley's announcement video (always brilliant), you can add acting to the list of flaws too. But that's all white noise really. On the pitch is where it mattered, and Walker rarely let the club down. 

Walker was another signing that was ridiculed at the time for the fee, and then proved to be a bargain. There was incredulity that a full back would cost that much, especially one that could not cross, as Gary Lineker alleged.  Ederson got similar treatment, unlike the more expensive Alisson and Kepa signings that followed elsewhere. There's no logical reason why the best goalkeepers and full backs should not cost premium prices. They are as important a position as any other, though we all accept a premium for goal scorers. 

Because of the recent decline, coupled with the constant feeling amongst some that he was an average player saved by his pace, a view that ignored his considerable skillset as a footballer, he will not receive the eulogies that others in sky blue got for an equal contribution, but as the news emerged that he had signed for Burnley, plenty of blues acknowledged what he had contributed to the City cause, and what he had achieved. The "only got pace" merchants are hilariously ignorant. It's like wondering what Mbappe would be like if he was slow. He isn't though, is he? Would Peter Crouch be all that if he was a lot smaller? You still have to utilise that pace to good effect. And Pep wouldn't have picked him for almost eight years just because he could shift. 

The best complement I could offer about Walker would be by mentioning a mistake he made away to Burnley, that allowed them an equaliser in a 1-1 draw, a game in which Raheem Sterling missed an open net. On the review I commented that this was one of the first times we had discussed Walker at length on a review, and did so due to a mistake, over half a season into his time at the club. That was the thing with Walker - he just got on with his role, without razmataz. Very few long-range screamers, not many last-ditch sliding tackles, not much glitz, though he was pretty handy at goal line clearances. We rarely picked him out in reviews as he consistently put in 8/10 performances, without catching the eye. We should have done. The life of a non-attacking full back, perhaps. The errors would come, and a drop in performances first came when he had been playing football for club and country relentlessly for two years. Perhaps his private life impinged on his performances in the end, or perhaps time caught up with him, as it does with us all in differing ways. Either way, every match seemed to contain a mistake, and he became a liability. His time at City was clearly coming to an end, and I'm not convinced he will fare much better for Burnley. 

All told, over the course of his seven and a half seasons at the Etihad, Walker won 18 major honours, a haul comprising of six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, two Community Shields, a UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. He was selected as part of the PFA Premier League Team of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2024 as well as also being named in the 2023 FIFA FIFPro World XI and the 2023 UEFA Champions League Team of the Season. Walker was also the recipient of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup Silver Ball. 

On the international front, meanwhile, his impact for England has seen the him collect 96 caps to date, figuring at both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also helping lead England to two major finals. Walker was also named in the EURO Team of the Tournament in both 2020 and 2024. More importantly, let us not forget the timewasting at Old Trafford. The goalkeeping masterclass in the Champions League. And even more importantly, shutting down many of the world's best wide players. 

Not bad really, was he?

So, another leader gone from the dressing room, and he will be missed, despite that decline. Thank you Kyle, and all the best. No statue, maybe not even a mosaic or lifelong season ticket, but a brilliant professional for City. Another player who played an integral part in City's greatest ever period. It won't be forgotten by me and many others. 

This is just a reminder for everyone that the two teams have been found to have breached financial rules, and Chelsea admitted it. The reminder is in case you were out this week, enjoying the sunshine, because if you had taken a day away from the internet, you may not even know the news. Yes, it has soon ebbed away from the headlines, never to be mentioned again.

Which leaves just one question – what about City?!

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK

THE HUB:- EPISODE 40

Sam and L Nobbins are joined by Bailey to discuss the Club World Cup performances, how the new signings got on, and what else the team needs in the summer.

HERE WE GO:- THE MEDIA SHOW (EPISODE 1)

Ahsan is joined by Howard in the first of a new series, looking at the media, their coverage, double-standards, legacies, the Club World Cup and much more besides!

THE WEEKEND SHOW

Howard, Ahsan and Lloyd discuss some hot topics, from the squad to transfers and more, as a new season quickly approaches.

If you are not a subscriber to our player shows, then enjoy some free samples of what we are about. Every show we do will have a 15 minutes sample on Soundcloud, along with a full, free weekly Friday show, jam- packed with content. Give it a try!