THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER:- ISSUE 74

Author

Howard Hockin
November 28, 2025

Hello, and welcome to Issue 74 of the 93:20 Newsletter. Another packed week of football stuff to discuss – a lot of crisis clubs, basically. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

As always, thanks for those that have supported me - you can donate via this link, and help the content keep flowing, and aid my crisp addiction – Scampi Fries are getting more expensive.

Also – December is almost here, where does the time go? Please do check out my books on Amazon. Twelfth Man and the book of Newsletter articles are the best content I’ve ever scribed, so do give them a go, and remember – the Newsletters book is not a season review, but a look at the world of football, so don’t be put off.

Let’s crack on.

I'd be uncomfortable having a damn good laugh at Liverpool and United (Man U) this week, considering the week City have had. But considering that I can count on one hand the number of times Pep has truly infuriated me, and that one of those occasions was this week, then the compromise is that I take a rare foray into some City match chat, and thus pile in on all 3 clubs. 

Let’s get City out of the way. It was all going so well, wasn’t it?

Pep's team selection for the Leverkusen match, and the limp performance that almost inevitably followed it, was always going to prove divisive. I felt we did the best job possible on the review podcast. But my position was clear, and nothing was or will sway me. This was a monumental mistake by Pep, akin to an act of sabotage.

Forget how good or terrible you may think the individuals that make up that second string are. I'm not interested in re-evaluating City's recruitment over the past few years. The simple fact for me was that it is almost impossible to expect a fluent, professional performance if you make 10 changes to ward off sad faces on the training pitch, and expect 10 rusty players who have rarely played in recent times, and never together in this precise set up, to beat the team third in the Bundesliga. Yes, certain players could have done more, they are not exempt from criticism, but for me, almost all the criticism should head Pep's way, and he acknowledged the mistake afterwards. What is most frustrating is how predictable it was. What did he think would happen? 

Hey, City could have got away with it, with better intensity and better finishing. But why take such a risk? A win would have as good as confirmed qualification for the knock out stages. Instead, a single defeat has put the team in an almighty pickle. It is now plausible that City will have to win their last two games, including a winter trip to the Arctic Circle qualify, or else face the ignominy of the play offs once more, and an extra huge strain on the schedule. I’d rather Pep had put this line up out against Real Madrid, that actually made more logical sense should we have beaten Leverkusen with a stronger side – a Leverkusen side that were nothing special, and di not have to be.

So, so unnecessary. The existing schedule demanded the squad be used and some changes made, but to do it wholesale was inviting disaster. And now the sad faces remain.

Never mind. When times are tough, you can count on your neighbours to rally round. It’s nice to be able to laugh at Manchester United once more. Reinvigorating.

That defeat to Everton may be the most damning of them all. United have a very friendly set of fixtures for the rest of the year (the next match at Palace perhaps the toughest), and with a win this week, it would have been realistic to consider finishing in the Top 4/5 this season, the absolute pinnacle of their ambitions. What fascinates me is that the modern United, despite their abject averageness (at best) for large swathes of the past 15 years, have been presented endless opportunities to escape, and dodge the bullets they fired at themselves. The Europa League final was a perfect case in point. Despite another abject season, they were presented with the chance of Champions League football, which would allow them to turn yet another corner, and all they had to do was beat a bang-average Tottenham side – and they even managed to mess that up.

And with each poor performance, the desperation to find signs of recovery becomes greater and greater. Two successive wins is usually sufficient, or “three words that Ruben Amorin said to Mainoo at full-time speaks volumes”, the sort of guff the MUEN farts out on a daily basis.

But this is the gift that keeps on giving. And ultimately, what is most damning for Amorim is that he is so welded to a system that has proved wildly unsuccessful (9 wins in the Premier League since his arrival, 18 defeats), that he cannot even change it when up against 10 men, at home. He simply hasn’t got the imagination or flexibility to take a man out of defence.

We should be thankful. Because the thought of THEM winning the league would really, really hurt. I am now used to their failure.

And yet Manchester United are probably quite thankful for their neighbours too this week, for deflecting criticism and attention away from them.

Liverpool are quite the mess. A third consecutive defeat by a three-goal margin for the first time since December 1953.

This week, they failed my acid test as to whether a club is truly in crisis – because at home to PSV was one of those games where I tend to think “despite all their troubles, <insert name of club> won’t mess this one up”. And yet Liverpool somehow contrived to lose by three goals.

It would appear they are in greater freefall than City last season (time will tell), but there are still some obvious in-game similarities. Some generally good play, some domination, create chances, don’t take advantage, have no steel, fall apart at the first sign of adversity. We’ve reached the “Amorim” point with Liverpool now, whereby I hope the manager is not sacked, as he seems totally incapable of turning things around. It’s lovely to see.

A reminder that only three managers in the Premier League era have won back-to-back titles. And still some try desperately to portray Pep as a fraud. Still, not a good week for bald managers, all things considered. City should be looking at someone with a thick head of black hair when considering Pep’s successor.

Money Grabs

I had a 2nd and 3rd take at a piece the BBC put out this week, featuring Chloe Long, deputy director general at the Anti-Counterfeiting Group. It was a puff piece on counterfeit kits, a PR piece to warn people off buying fake merchandise. I was in tears at its emotional gravitas.

Well, not really. Cry me a river. Boo hoo. There’s a reason people buy counterfeit kits – because they’re sick of being ripped off. Kits are just another arm of football clubs’ relentless money grab from fans, as a monopoly supplier. So spare me your desperate arguments about quality and how fake kits “may give you a skin rash”. I’ll take the chance, thanks. And the fact it was pointed out in the piece that you often can’t tell the difference between a genuine kit and a fake one was telling – a compelling piece of evidence as to why the fake market is so big, and why the genuine kits are such a rip off.

There is a simple solution – the lower the prices of genuine shirts, the more the fake market shrinks. But that would eat into profits, so is clearly not going to happen – in fact, even freezing the already exorbitant prices for just one season is beyond most big clubs, as is producing fewer than seventeen different shirts each season.
The next time City release a limited edition shirt, perhaps to honour the 25th anniversary of the release of The Last Broadcast by Doves, I’ll spare a thought for the poor clubs struggling by despite the fake shirt market depriving them of millions of pounds. Maybe we could set up a GoFundMe account to help out.

The grass is not always greener….

Let’s be honest (and it’s not a dig, just an observation), most who felt City should flip Savinho for Rodrygo had barely watched a minute of the latter play football over the past year or more. They just made an assumption on a Real Madrid player, an assumption that it was a big trade-up. Savinho has won no one over, and it may be best he leaves, but I am far from convinced Rodrygo is the answer. In fact, I am pretty sure he is not.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK

THE 93:20 REVIEW:- FINE LINES

Ahsan is joined by Bailey for a deep dive into the defeat at Newcastle, covering all aspects from tactics, selections, to performances.
A much needed tonic after the weekend.

THE 93:20 REVIEW:- TOO MUCH

Howard, Lloyd and Chris pick the bones out of a miserable night at the Etihad. Where does the responsibility lie?

OPPOSITION FAN:- LEEDS UNITED

Howard caught up with Andy Peterson to talk about Leed’s struggles, Farke, the owners, music gigs and more!

OPPOS

THE WEEKEND SHOW

Another bumper show, as the panel look back at a disappointing week, and preview the game v Leeds.

f 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!