# Football Manager Euros Challenge ft. Iain Macintosh(M4A_128K)

An episode of [Footbal Beyond the Pitch](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6821032841), 19 Oct 2026, 9:01.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75855205/football_manager_euros_challenge_ft_iain_macintosh_m4a_128k.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Ian McIntosh and welcome to Tifo IRL. Today's
[0:12] Speaker 1: very special episode is a football manager special, kind of
[0:15] Speaker 1: in line with the new gaming content you'll find on
[0:18] Speaker 1: The Athletic right now, but more on that later. We
[0:21] Speaker 1: have set a challenge using the fantasy draft section of
[0:25] Speaker 1: the game for two of Tifo's keenest football minds to
[0:29] Speaker 1: go head-to-head with their best players from Euro 2020. Unfortunately,
[0:34] Speaker 1: Alex Stewart is very busy doing the transfer stuff, so
[0:37] Speaker 1: he couldn't be here, but he sent Joe Devine in
[0:40] Speaker 1: his stead. Whether or not that proves to be a
[0:43] Speaker 1: wise move remains to be seen. Now, if you've played
[0:46] Speaker 1: the fantasy draft before, you'll know there's a limit, just
[0:50] Speaker 1: 500 million pounds, and that means you'll know more than
[0:53] Speaker 1: one contestant here. But, you know, you live and learn,
[0:57] Speaker 1: don't you? Let's see who they picked.
[1:02] Speaker 2: I'm happy with this, this is my 4-3-3 I'm going
[1:05] Speaker 2: to play. I'm going to give myself a little anchor
[1:06] Speaker 2: in Hoiberg. I like Pedri coming forward as the 10,
[1:11] Speaker 2: be able to move into these positions around behind the striker.
[1:13] Speaker 2: I think that should give me about a front five,
[1:15] Speaker 2: should be a two and a three. I think Hoiberg
[1:17] Speaker 2: should hopefully move forward and join in with Verratti. He's
[1:19] Speaker 2: created 10 open play chances, which is the same as
[1:22] Speaker 2: Kevin De Bruyne. Only Jordi Alba has more.
[1:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, let's have Mbappe and Lewandowski, we'll have him in. Lukaku,
[1:31] Speaker 3: I'll have him.
[1:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, he's really creative, but also he can play in
[1:34] Speaker 2: that six role, which I think is important. The way
[1:35] Speaker 2: I want to set up my team is very specific.
[1:37] Speaker 3: Oh, Paul Pogba, let's get him in. He's great, wasn't he?
[1:40] Speaker 2: Only Tony Kroos has made more passes in the final third.
[1:43] Speaker 2: There's a bunch of statistics in FB Ref that make
[1:45] Speaker 2: him look amazing, the progressive passes. And yeah, there's loads there.
[1:50] Speaker 2: It kind of backs up what I saw with him,
[1:51] Speaker 2: so I really like that a lot.
[1:54] Speaker 1: Joe, you've only got seven players. You've spent almost all.
[1:59] Speaker 4: Of your money.
[2:00] Speaker 3: How much money have I got left, Ian?
[2:01] Speaker 4: 23 million pounds.
[2:03] Speaker 3: And how many more players do I need to pick?
[2:06] Speaker 3: I need a goalkeeper. And do you know what? Stojanovic,
[2:10] Speaker 3: he's a good keeper. And only at 625k. He's the
[2:14] Speaker 3: perfect player to fit in my team.
[2:16] Speaker 2: I think this should work, because I made it quite
[2:18] Speaker 2: a high-pressing, high-defensive line. I want short passes at a
[2:22] Speaker 2: high tempo, but not too short. I don't want Guardiola short.
[2:24] Speaker 2: I want them to be able to mix up a
[2:26] Speaker 2: little bit and change tempos, depending on how Joe plays.
[2:29] Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how he's going to line
[2:31] Speaker 2: up his team.
[2:31] Speaker 3: Up here, what's this one? This one's the poacher. He's
[2:35] Speaker 3: going to come in, get those chickens, and this guy
[2:38] Speaker 3: is the target man. He's going to be the one
[2:39] Speaker 3: that's helping the poacher line, get the line for the chickens.
[2:43] Speaker 3: And of course, they say red, but I say blue.
[2:46] Speaker 3: And that's how it plays, you know? I think we're
[2:48] Speaker 3: going to have a good time here. And I haven't
[2:51] Speaker 3: really got any subs that I can use.
[2:59] Speaker 1: Okay, that only took two and a half hours, but
[3:01] Speaker 1: we have now picked our squads, set up tactics, and
[3:05] Speaker 1: we're ready to play. And I tell you, I've very
[3:07] Speaker 1: rarely seen real-life managers with as much attention to detail
[3:11] Speaker 1: as JJ Bull has just demonstrated here in front of
[3:14] Speaker 1: the big screen. And I've got to say, Joe Devine
[3:17] Speaker 1: is also here. Let's find out how this goes. Well,
[3:21] Speaker 1: hello and welcome to the TIFO Euro 2020 Challenge. Two very,
[3:27] Speaker 1: very different teams kicking off. It's Joe Devine's side in
[3:32] Speaker 1: the black. We're joining the game seven minutes in against
[3:36] Speaker 1: JJ Bull in the red. And, well, almost immediately... We're
[3:40] Speaker 1: seeing heavy, heavy pressure from JJ Bull's side. The ball
[3:45] Speaker 1: comes back to Hoiberg. That's an outlandish effort. There's whistles.
[3:50] Speaker 1: Whistles passed. Picking up in the 17th minute now. And
[3:54] Speaker 1: big long kick from Joe Devine's goalkeeper. That really achieves nothing.
[3:59] Speaker 1: Ronaldo brings it back to shore. Lovely cross-field ball. Finds
[4:03] Speaker 1: Sterling and, well, with a better shot, Joe Devine could
[4:06] Speaker 1: be in a lot of trouble right now. I have
[4:08] Speaker 1: to say it's a, extraordinary formation he's playing it appears
[4:12] Speaker 1: to be a queue of men in black shirts best
[4:16] Speaker 1: not to make any further comment after that Maguire, Pedri
[4:19] Speaker 1: oh that's brilliant that's through to the Ronaldo and there
[4:21] Speaker 1: he is in the bottom right corner 21 minutes in
[4:27] Speaker 1: Joe Devine's in a lot of trouble that was an
[4:29] Speaker 1: exquisitely worked goal safely and Verratti finds Shaw, Shaw is
[4:34] Speaker 1: everywhere up and down that left flank and now there's
[4:38] Speaker 1: Ronaldo finds Benzema there's men here there's Pedri here there's
[4:41] Speaker 1: a goal here it's 2-0 I'm.
[4:44] Speaker 4: Sorry Alex I'm sorry Alex I've messed this up.
[4:52] Speaker 1: Now this is turning out to be a brutal punishment
[4:56] Speaker 1: beating can Mbappe salvage anything here Lukaku charging through the
[5:04] Speaker 1: middle No, oh my word, that's a terrible ball. He's
[5:07] Speaker 1: played Benzema right in, and there's Ronaldo as well. That's
[5:10] Speaker 1: the last thing Joe Devine's team wanted, but who's there
[5:13] Speaker 1: to save the day? It's N'Golo Kante.
[5:15] Speaker 4: We have to go ultra attacking because we're behind two goals,
[5:23] Speaker 4: so very attacking. In possession, we want the passing directness
[5:28] Speaker 4: to be extremely direct, and the tempo... We want that
[5:34] Speaker 4: to be the highest possible tempo. We want the defensive
[5:40] Speaker 4: width to be as narrow as possible because they're getting
[5:43] Speaker 4: in the middle, yeah? So I want to prevent short
[5:47] Speaker 4: goal kick distribution because.
[5:49] Speaker 1: They're very, very urgent. Well, that's what I wanted.
[5:54] Speaker 4: I wanted it to be off.
[5:57] Speaker 1: Well, we are into the second half of the score agreement.
[6:02] Speaker 1: A really hurtful 2-0. No, the score's a really hurtful 3-0.
[6:06] Speaker 1: And when it's Sterling picking up headers at the far post,
[6:09] Speaker 1: you know there are serious issues with your team. I
[6:13] Speaker 1: can't tell what Joe Devine's done here with his tactics,
[6:16] Speaker 1: but it looks to be vandalism at best.
[6:19] Speaker 4: Do it!
[6:24] Speaker 1: What? It's a goal. It's a goal. He's the poacher.
[6:32] Speaker 2: He's the poacher, the goal.
[6:37] Speaker 1: To pull one back. I mean, that's kind of embarrassing
[6:41] Speaker 1: for JJ Bullseye. I mean, the Macs don't tell their
[7:18] Speaker 1: own story, really, don't they? Goodness gracious me. Bad day
[7:27] Speaker 1: to be Joe Devine. Were you surprised of his tactics?
[7:30] Speaker 2: I was surprised, but the most important thing is the
[7:32] Speaker 2: three points, and we go and work hard in training,
[7:34] Speaker 2: and we go again.
[7:35] Speaker 1: Joe Devine, you went with a controversial new tactic that
[7:38] Speaker 1: can best be described as a militarized post office queue.
[7:41] Speaker 1: How did that work out for you?
[7:43] Speaker 3: Not that well, and I'll be writing to Alex Stewart
[7:45] Speaker 3: after the show.
[7:46] Speaker 1: Was that one of his ideas or one of yours?
[7:47] Speaker 3: Believe it or not, he sent me all of the
[7:49] Speaker 3: tactics privately on WhatsApp. You wouldn't be able to find
[7:51] Speaker 3: the messages. Of course, I've deleted them since, but he
[7:52] Speaker 3: told me to do all of that, and I will
[7:54] Speaker 3: be filing a complaint with the Board of Complaints.
[7:57] Speaker 1: It's a cup competition. You've got the cup. It's in
[8:00] Speaker 1: the cupboard. Are you looking forward to the opportunity of
[8:02] Speaker 1: a rematch and perhaps a larger margin of victory?
[8:06] Speaker 2: A larger margin of victory would be nice, but the
[8:08] Speaker 2: most important thing is the three points. We go to
[8:11] Speaker 2: the training ground, work hard, and then we go again.
[8:13] Speaker 1: You spent very big, very quickly, and suddenly had no
[8:16] Speaker 1: money left. Do you have any regrets?
[8:19] Speaker 3: Just that my parents divorced when they did.
[8:21] Speaker 1: Thanks so much for watching this very special episode of
[8:24] Speaker 1: Tifo IRL. If you like that sort of thing, if
[8:27] Speaker 1: you like Football Manager, if you like other games, then
[8:30] Speaker 1: make sure you give me a follow on Twitter. It's Ian,
[8:32] Speaker 1: with two I's, I-A-I-N underscore games. That's Ian, with two I's,
[8:38] Speaker 1: underscore games on Twitter, because we're going to have loads
[8:41] Speaker 1: more of that kind of thing.

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