The new format, which can be watched on TNT Sports, will see the top eight teams in the league progress automatically while those placed ninth to 24th will enter a knockout stage to secure a spot in the final 16.
Former England, Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool midfielder Joe Cole explains: “Pubs are vital parts of communities. There are a lot of pubs struggling around the country, particularly in areas that are not affluent.
“People there haven’t got the money to spend so pubs might be the first thing they will have to put to the side but community is vital. They are good for people’s morale, bringing the family together and although mental health encompasses everything, it’s too clinical a term – to me it’s about ‘community’.
“Back in the day, Sundays, for example, were about people going to church and also going to the pub for a roast dinner, family time and seeing your neighbours.
“With ‘community’, it’s about decency and being helpful to people and, in pubs, there’s plenty of things going on and it’s especially important for men to come together and talk.
“It’s easier to talk about things that are bothering you are and sometimes that’s all it takes. Then the next day, your mate might be giving you a call and you’re going for a walk or we’ll play five-a-side football. – anything where people are coming together – and talking is what the country clearly needs at the moment.”
On the suggestion that a couple of pints at the pub will help people, Cole adds: “It’s a little bit cultural, a little bit biological. Pubs may not be the be all and end all but play an important role in bringing community and people together.”
Pub culture is amazing
Ex-England, Manchester United, Manchester City and Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves adds: “My brothers have had pubs in Canada and the cool thing about England is it’s synonymous with the pub but there’s lots of other things like fish & chips and the queen but it’s the culture.
“Pub culture is amazing. It used to be this whole ‘laddy’ thing but it’s evolved so much now. They’re quite family-orientated, the food’s amazing, there’s great wine and they’re ticking all the boxes.
“Television was so different back in the day wasn’t it? Now the only thing you watch live is sport – it gets people in the door.
“I know from the industry for my brothers, January is quiet because everyone has spend a fortune on Christmas on food and presents, so money’s tight and in today’s climate, it’s even tighter with all everything going on politically.
“Everybody has such a good set-up at home for the Premier League and the Champions League in midweek that they want to stay in but coming into the pub and experiencing it with other fans is a completely different experience.
“I know a pint tastes nice at home but it tastes better in a pub.”
Meanwhile, current rugby union scrum half for Harlequins also chips in with his stance being a huge Liverpool fan.
Care states: “There’s no feeling like being in a pub, watching live sport, especially if it’s your team and celebrating a goal.
“You can be in the stadium and that’s probably the only thing that rivals it but there’s something about watching life sport in a pub with your mates where you forget about everything else – so for that 90 minutes – you’re just in it.
“It’s absolutely key that people get out for a bit of mental health and to see your mates. Hopefully you should enjoy it even if your team doesn’t win.”
Owen Hargreaves
Favourite pub: My brother Neil had an amazing pub in Calgary. In the UK, there’s a pub company with three sites in one area in Cheshire, which are all part of Tim Bird’s Cheshire Cat Pubs & Inns group – the Bull’s Head, the Roebuck and my favourite one was the Church. The food is incredible at the Church while the Roebuck and Bull’s Head are next door to each other and are class. There’s no sport but you can take your mom and dad, your family and have a lovely meal and a nice bottle of wine. That’s the diversity of pubs in the UK, they are for everyone and everyone feels welcome.
Favourite drink: When I played, I didn’t really drink because we had games every three days. You couldn’t go anywhere because the manager would know. When I was younger, I’d say I like a shandy because it’s so refreshing and Germany had amazing beer and we’d have a ‘mass’ (a litre of beer in one glass). As I got older, it depends where I was but if in Ireland, I drink Guinness but I probably prefer wine because I like food and like cooking. But you can get anything in UK pubs, non-alcoholic beer has gone crazy.
Joe Cole
Favourite pub: My favourite pub of all time is not there anymore and that’s a shame. It was a pub/bar in Kentish Town Road called the Verge and was on the corner of my estate where I grew up. We had some really fun nights in there so it not being there now is a real shame. We used to go from the Verge to a music venue called The Forum.
Favourite drink: It’s changed over the years. I’m not a beer drinker unless it’s the summer and I’m in a pub garden. I like a Noam, which is a light lager and I really like the Pilsner we do at Restaurant Story. In the winter, I like red wine – Pinot Noir. I’m not like a big wine person I just like a nice Pinot Noir.
- To see Danny Care’s favourite pub and drink, click here where you will also find similar information from rugby union players Jamie Roberts and John Barclay.
Camden lad Cole, who is a restaurant owner – and used to live next door to the Victory pub, in Castlehaven Road – explains he is in the market to buy a pub but it could be a fair stretch down the track.
He says: “I’m partners with Tom Sellers in Restaurant Story and Story Cellar and work with 1 Hotel Mayfair.
“We both like our pubs and we want to get one that’s primarily a pub with good-quality food.
“This is something that’s a passion project because the restaurants are the fundamentals but we want to do it and it’s early days but we’re scouting so watch this space.
“We were close on one and we’re looking around Chelsea, Hampstead, but it’s down the line.”
Hargreaves, who was born in Canada and moved to Germany aged 16 with his English father and Welsh mother, explains British and Irish pubs would open for matches at 7am in Canada while the pub culture in Germany is vastly different and states “here [in the UK], it’s the best.”
He continues: “People must support pub businesses and the local people that run them. Obviously, it’s a business but they’re trying to provide something for the area but it’s like the whole political climate has gone mad that taxes implemented on pubs shows people are almost punished for doing well.
“All the costs are going up, such as food and staff but you can’t put a pint price up by £3 because your going to p**s off your client base. At some point, something’s got to give. Rates can’t keep going up.
“Covid killed so many businesses. Everyone’s trying to get back on their feet and anything that you can do to help you know whether it’s from the Government side or people going to support their local is everything.
“People want to go to the pub but, financially, can they afford to? Is it cheaper to stay indoors?”
Rugby fan Care explains why the pub has such appeal when screening sport. He says: “When the Euros or the World Cup comes around, the place to be is with your mates in the pub, watching it. I’ve watched games at home and you don’t feel the same vibe.
With England, you’re all supporting one team and that is split when it comes to watching Liverpool, Man United, Chelsea or Arsenal, and you can’t replicate that.
“I remember goals such as Fernando Torres scoring for Chelsea against Barcelona 15 years ago (I still wanted Torres to do well even though he’d left Liverpool by then) and that feeling of euphoria is amazing with all the beers flowing and flying.”
And on the subject of owning his own pub, Care states: “Too many of my mates would run liberties and drink me dry. I would do the same though!
“I’d do good snacks. Quick to make. Good sausage rolls. My crisps selection would be second to none I think every good pub needs to have a lots of good crisps.
“Maybe very cheesy chips and a little wood-fired pizza out the back. If you’re drinking, you want to eat, so why not get money for both?”
Stimulating ‘community’
Cole has his say on screening matches: “Live sport, particularly live football, is vital because you used to come together with your family and watch television. When I was growing up it might be a Minder or Only Fools & Horses and you’d watch it together and it might spark a conversation and that’s all gone now.
“Technology means you can watch what you want, when you want and it means no one is together for it so the only thing that brings people together is live sport – that means seeing your mates down the pub.
“So the big question is ‘why do we love football so much? Why is it so culturally significant?’ It’s because it gives people a place where they can feel part of something, which is the same thing as a pub.”
He also weighs in on how the current Government is faring with his restaurant owner hat on. Cole explains: “Some would argue the Government is not making a great job of [helping hospitality].
“Alcohol can be to the detriment of people medically and socially sometimes so it needs to be taxed, of course, but maybe supermarkets should take the brunt of that and big businesses and big drinks companies too because they benefit the most from selling alcohol.
“This could potentially make it cheaper for people to go out to pubs. If people want to drink and that’s what they want to do they can do it and maybe doing it where they can have support and talk to other people rather than possibly drinking alone at home.
“If someone is going to the pub five nights a week then with friends they may only go four nights – or even three – with the other one being a night when they play five-a-side football perhaps.
“Anything that stimulates ‘community’ must be thought of when [the Government] is considering where to tax alcohol and big businesses and big money should foot the bill rather than the landlord of a pub who’s trying to bring the community together.
“When you think of London, which is obviously close to my heart, it’s one of the financial capitals of the world but it’s also one of the main tourist attractions of the world and that F&B industry runs it, so you have to listen to that and stimulate it.
“We’re in a very competitive space you have supply quality and as prices rise, the bill always goes on the punter. It gets passed down and goes to the common man. So then what? The Government is supposed to take the burden off the man or woman who is working 9 to 5. If they can’t take their family out a couple a couple of nights a week and even once a week and go on holiday, then that system needs to be addressed.”
“My brother’s got a great, great story,” begins Cole, “when I scored a goal for England once and he was in a boozer in Romford and he didn’t he didn’t pay for a drink for the rest of the night. Everybody just kept buying a drink and he got so he got so p****d he was carried home to my mum’s where he was living at the time. He had a great night at the pub and I had a great night at the match.”
