Hello and welcome to the game football podcast from The Times and Sunday Times.

So where does the power really lie in the modern game?

With the star players on the pitch or with the big bosses in the boardrooms.

On today's show, we'll discuss player power in light of the end of the transfer window

as famous names are passed around and deals are

cancelled last minute. We'll also discuss the League Cup semi-finals, the continuing crisis at Sheffield

Wednesday and look ahead to the weekend's action as Liverpool host Manchester City. I'm Tom Clark

and joining me today we have the Chief Correspondent for the Times and Sunday Times, Martin Samuel,

the former Millwall Marseilles, an island striker Tony Cascarino, and the former football, return journalist, Gregor Robertson, is with me as usual. And Gregor, we're going to start with you, a bit of therapy for you. I think you briefly mentioned this on Monday's show, and you were so upset about it and so enraged that you then went back and wrote 1,200 the time for it on the time. Or did it? Well, we were discussing it last night and my colleagues were like, Greg has done a really good piece. See if you can get it in the paper. And I was the nightman last night. Put it into the old word counter. 1,200 words. Jesus Christ. Not getting that in alongside a league cup semi-final. But anyway, you get to tell us about it now.

Headlined brilliantly, I think we can read this and we hear it in your voice.

Think player power is out of control, question mark.

Give your head a wobble.

Yeah, cringed a wee bit actually when I woke up this morning and realised I wrote those words.

You did like those words.

A rare case of editors and sub-editors

not...

Not how they speak. Not misleading the reader. That is literally... From the heart, Gregor, that was. Right how you speak. But it is in the context of you saying that Premier League clubs still have the upper hand. Just ask Harvey Elliott, Dwight, Dwight McNeil and Loney, Aaron and Selmino yanked out of Burroughsia Dortmund because Chelsea feared they might try to sign him.

Yeah, I mean, if you just think back to... Neil and Loney, Aaron and Selmino, yanked out of Boris O'Dortman because Chelsea feared they might try to sign him.

Yeah, I mean, if you just think back to the end of August and September and what the conversation was like around Alexander Isak and Yoh and Vista and players, player power getting out of control and, you know, players going to strike doing all sorts of things

that made them morally bankrupt and forcing through moves yada yada I made the point then and as

I say I'm banging the drum again because I feel quite strongly about it that overwhelmingly

the power resides with clubs and I think we've seen that

...