Las Vegas Raiders Insider: Two Members of UK Parliament Chris Stephens, Gavin Newlands from Scotland
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00:00 Hi everybody and welcome back to the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:06 Great Wednesday to you.
00:08 Thanks to everybody who came out to the San Antonio meet and greet last night.
00:11 Now listen, I am really excited about this podcast, probably to be very honest, a little
00:17 bit more excited than I've been for one in a long time and I enjoy doing them.
00:20 Y'all know that.
00:22 But these two guys are members of the UK United Kingdom Parliament.
00:27 It would be equivalent to a house of representative members in the United States and huge Raider
00:35 fans.
00:36 Now they live near each other.
00:37 They're neighboring constituencies, neighboring districts.
00:42 So the first one I'm going to introduce you to, look at him wearing the Raiders hat, just
00:46 representing in Glasgow, Scotland, the great Chris Stevens.
00:54 And Chris, I'm saying it right, correct?
00:57 Yes, you are.
00:58 Okay.
00:59 Remember what Winston Churchill said, we are two people separated by common language.
01:05 That's true.
01:07 And then Gavin Newlands is from Renfrewshire, Scotland, which is next door to Glasgow.
01:14 We are so glad to have them both here.
01:16 Chris and Gavin, thank you for joining us.
01:20 We're going to get into it.
01:21 I want to hear from you guys how you became Raider fans, your thoughts on the Raiders
01:25 being all the way.
01:26 But before we go, I've got to tell you this story.
01:29 So in 1999, I'm speaking in London and I had gotten my suspender caught on something at
01:41 the hotel and I apologized to the people.
01:44 I said, my suspender broke and the whole crowd went.
01:49 I found out later suspenders over there are not the exact same as here.
01:54 Yes.
01:55 No, not quite.
01:56 Gracie's are cold over here.
02:02 So anyways, I've got some friends that live in Scotland, so it's great to talk to you
02:06 guys, your big Raider fans.
02:08 Let's just start with you first, Chris.
02:10 How did you become a Raider fan?
02:12 How long have you been a Raider fan?
02:14 Share everybody that story.
02:15 Well, it probably started when American football started to be shown in the UK and that started
02:24 with a program called World of Sports that used to be on in a Saturday afternoon.
02:28 They covered a whole range of sports and one Saturday they were showing the highlights
02:34 of the Super Bowl and it was a Super Bowl in which the Raiders beat the Redskins and
02:39 that wonderful 74 yard run from the great Marcus Allen.
02:43 So that's where it started.
02:46 And then Channel 4 started showing American football highlights and that's really developed.
02:54 The coverage in the UK has developed, particularly with Sky Sports.
03:00 So we get the NFL Red Zone on a Sunday, we get a match on.
03:06 If the Raiders are on to Monday Night Football, we would get that live.
03:10 So I would stay up to watch that.
03:12 And also I've got relatives in California who are Raider, so for me it's natural to
03:18 support the Raiders and I've been following them through thick and many thins since then
03:24 on them.
03:25 Awesome.
03:26 Kevin, how about you, buddy?
03:29 Well, a slightly similar story, but Chris is a couple of years older than me.
03:36 He did attend the same school as me, as it happens just by coincidence.
03:39 We didn't know each other at that point, but my dad was a big American football fan and
03:45 he was an LA Rams fan.
03:47 And so being from Scotland and thinking the rivalry will be within the city, obviously
03:53 in Glasgow you for instance have Rangers and Celtic, I assumed that the LA Raiders were
03:58 the rivals to the LA Rams.
04:00 So I decided to support the LA Raiders to try and get one over my father.
04:04 Sadly, I quickly realised that the Raiders were not the rivals of the Rams, but my choice
04:09 was made and I've been following the Raiders ever since.
04:14 Bo Jackson would have been my favourite player at the time.
04:16 But Channel 4, as Chris mentioned, was a huge influence on a lot of UK American football
04:21 fans.
04:22 Their coverage during the mid-late 80s and early 90s was fantastic and brought the game
04:28 to a lot of people.
04:30 I also subsequently went on to watch domestic American football in Scotland.
04:36 I used to follow a team called the Glasgow Lions as well.
04:39 And then many years later we had the Scottish Claymores in the World League or NFL Europe
04:44 as well.
04:45 But we may get into that later.
04:47 Awesome.
04:48 Alright guys, so let me ask you, is Jermaine Illuminor your favourite Raider obviously
04:54 because he comes from the UK?
04:56 Or who's your favourite Raider?
04:58 Let's start with you Gavin.
04:59 Oh, it's got to be Max.
05:02 How can it not be Max Crosby?
05:05 Just the sheer effort and will he puts into every play as well as being just an outstanding
05:10 player.
05:11 It's that leadership by example which marks him out not just from this team but from,
05:18 I suppose for the decades now I've been watching the Raiders, he really stands out.
05:22 So Max Crosby for me.
05:24 How about you Chris?
05:26 Oh, well I think Crosby in defence but for me it's Jacobs.
05:31 He reminds me of the lineage of Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen and I hope that we keep them.
05:37 So I know there's a free agency coming up but I think you've mentioned this in previous
05:43 podcasts because I do listen to your podcast Ondo that hopefully AP will find a way of
05:49 keeping Josh.
05:51 Yeah I think they're going to be able to come.
05:53 I mean if I had to make a guess, I'm not reporting in his final but I do believe both parties
05:58 want to be together and you guys know being politicians who have to make deals when both
06:03 parties want there to be an answer that certainly makes it a lot easier to find one.
06:08 All right I want to go in a little bit of a different direction.
06:11 Chris I want to start with you.
06:14 Obviously Antonio Pierce gets the job.
06:16 What is your thoughts on the state of the Raiders where they are today?
06:23 Very encouraged and certainly a lot more encouraged than I was this time last year to be honest
06:28 I think that what AP does is that he brings out what it means to be a Raider.
06:36 He's a very tough, tough defence, a players coach so I'm very encouraged of what's going
06:42 to happen.
06:43 Obviously we've got the draft of the free agency coming up.
06:47 The speculation that certainly we're picking up is that Raiders are going to move up in
06:52 the draft and we get to see the draft day now so in the last couple of years Sky Sports
06:57 show that live so we get to see all of that as well.
07:00 So I'm very encouraged with what I'm seeing with AP and I was absolutely delighted that
07:04 he got the job.
07:05 I didn't do the victory plunge like the victory plunge guy on Twitter but certainly I was
07:11 very, very happy to see that AP got the job.
07:15 It looks like he's putting together a good coaching staff as well which is very important
07:20 because it's not just the head coach.
07:22 The head coach, I think you've explored this before, the head coach is a leader and there
07:25 are other specialist coaches as well who seem to be building a good team.
07:29 It might be that we get Hugh Jackson back but certainly what encourages me is that a
07:35 lot of the coaching staff have had in the past some association with the Raiders so
07:39 they know what the Raiders is about and what Raiders football is about.
07:43 How about you Gavin?
07:46 I think Chris is right.
07:48 I think they had you asked me after five games of even last season under the previous disastrous
07:54 regime, I would have thought that you might be looking at a semi-rebuild for the Raiders.
08:00 That's how I had that feel about it.
08:02 But I think AP, the results and the performances towards the end of last season highlighted
08:07 that the squad, or the roster I should say to use the American term, is actually nowhere
08:13 near as bad as it's painted.
08:16 If you listen to other NFL experts, they had the Raiders down pretty low in their expectations
08:24 for last year but I think towards the end of the season you can see that the defence
08:27 certainly barring one or two pieces is in a really, really good place, particularly
08:32 with Patrick hopefully coming back under AP.
08:36 Obviously the main issue we have is what to do at quarterback.
08:42 That's the question.
08:43 I'm a little higher on Aiden than others but at the same time do I want to roll into next
08:48 season with Aiden as your number one?
08:51 I'm not sure.
08:52 I would like to see us go up as high as we can in the draft, take the best QB we have
08:57 and let them fight it out before the season starts and we'll see how we go on.
09:04 So Gavin, this next question we're going to start with you then go to Chris.
09:08 I recently learned that if the Raiders want to get to number one, it's going to cost them
09:13 three number one picks and three number two picks.
09:16 Now if they decide that there are two foundational generational quarterbacks in there, then they
09:24 can go to two but I'm hearing Washington is not going to move.
09:28 If there's three, they can go to three but if they think there's two and we know that
09:34 Washington won't move, they've got to get to one.
09:37 Here's my question for you.
09:40 As a Raider fan, if they're not 100% sold, you mentioned you want them to move up.
09:48 Are you for them moving up if the cost is three ones and three twos, if they know they
09:53 can get a generational quarterback?
09:55 What's your opinion?
09:56 If they're really sure, then it's probably worth it.
10:02 My only issue is I'm not overly convinced on Drake May and I wouldn't really want to
10:08 bet the house on Drake May.
10:11 If you're going to go in on our two guys, Jaden, etc., I would probably go for it because
10:18 for years now we've bust it in the first round.
10:21 We've had terrible first round picks for years so therefore why not gamble a little and invest
10:27 some of those picks and try and get our generational QB but I'm not sold on Drake May.
10:31 That'd be my only caveat.
10:35 How about you, Chris?
10:36 Yeah, I think so.
10:38 For a couple of reasons.
10:40 If we don't do it, someone else might.
10:43 And that other team that might do it is the Broncos, which ironically my wife supports.
10:47 So the Broncos Raiders games are always good in my household, Hondo.
10:52 They're always a bit of a rival, really.
10:55 But a team like the Broncos would pay that price if the Raiders don't.
11:02 And sometimes in sports, the price you have to pay is the price you have to pay in order
11:09 to get ahead.
11:11 And I think that we need to do that because the AFC West has always traditionally been
11:17 a very hard division.
11:18 But I think it's even more difficult now.
11:21 Yeah.
11:22 Gavin, is your wife a Raider fan or another team?
11:27 My wife couldn't care less about American football, Hondo, sadly.
11:33 Although she does leave me in peace on a late Sunday evening over here when the games start.
11:39 Because the games obviously start around 6pm here.
11:42 Sunday night football starts at 1am.
11:45 So it's a bit of a long slog.
11:46 Because the Raiders do get a fair amount of primetime games.
11:49 So Chris and I are up quite late through the night watching the Raiders.
11:54 All right, now I need both of you to send me your addresses because I'm going to send
11:58 you both a gift for being on the program.
12:01 But Chris, I'm going to send your wife a Broncos rally rag from when they played the Raiders.
12:09 So I'm going to send her this from Broncos Stadium.
12:11 So it even says right on there, Denver versus the Raiders and all that.
12:16 So I'm going to send that to your wife as a present.
12:18 All right, guys.
12:20 I'm going to ask you just two more questions and I'll get you out of here.
12:22 I know you're on a schedule.
12:25 Let's look at the Raiders.
12:26 If you are looking at this team, what are your expectations for next year?
12:33 I think it's a fair expectation to expect the Raiders to be in contention for that playoff
12:38 spot and to be over 500.
12:40 That's where I'm looking at for this team.
12:43 Over 500 in contention for the playoffs.
12:45 So let's start with you, Chris.
12:46 What are your expectations?
12:47 Yeah, I think playoffs.
12:50 You have to win 10 games.
12:51 I think realistically to get to the playoffs, particularly in the AFC, the NFC tends to
12:57 be if you win nine, you might make it.
12:59 But I think realistically you have to win 10 games in order to get to the AFC playoffs.
13:03 So absolutely, that's the expectation.
13:06 Two, if they come to the UK again, that'd be a great expectation because I have my flag
13:11 from the Bears game at the Spurs Stadium.
13:14 So I have that in my office hanging up.
13:18 It was great to see them a few years back beating the Bears.
13:24 So that's the expectations for me.
13:27 And to win a playoff game, I think it's been far too long since we won a playoff game.
13:32 How about you, Gavin?
13:35 Yeah, I think we'll definitely get a chance next year.
13:38 Obviously, with the Cavalier being the West, it's now just chock full of talent at both
13:44 the coaching level and QBE, etc.
13:47 So it's a tough old division.
13:49 But obviously AP was over 500 against it.
13:53 In fact, it was 3-1, I think, wasn't it, toward the end of the season against the division.
13:57 So we've got nothing to fear going up against the division.
14:00 Harbaugh adds another dimension, certainly, to the West next year.
14:05 But I think we should be certainly over 500 and in contention for the playoffs.
14:11 But that is a tough ask.
14:13 And it's still AP.
14:14 It'll be AP's first full year.
14:16 So I'm hopeful, but I'm certainly not expecting him to win the division or anything like it.
14:24 But I still think we should be there or thereabouts over 500.
14:28 The Chiefs are looking a little...
14:29 They're super old champions, they might be, but they're not quite as they were.
14:34 So we'll see how they bounce back from their offensive frailties next year as well.
14:40 All right, guys.
14:41 My next question, and you're both politicians, so you can answer this.
14:47 I have asked a lot of NFL players...
14:51 Now, Gavin, I know you got to go soon.
14:53 So I'm going to get this question to you first.
14:54 And if you got to run, I get it.
14:56 By the way, in case you're wondering, Gavin's sitting at the airport waiting to catch his
15:01 next plane.
15:02 But my quick question is, I know long-term the NFL would like to have teams in Europe.
15:09 But that's a long ways away.
15:11 And one of the things you hear from players is, "I don't want to pay the taxes."
15:16 That Europe's taxes are a lot higher than America's.
15:19 And you see it in America now where players don't want to go to California, but will come
15:24 to Nevada because there's no state income tax.
15:26 I'm just curious.
15:28 Do you think there is a market in Europe for American football teams from the NFL?
15:35 And do you think wherever it goes, that European governments would work so that it would not
15:42 be cost prohibitive for Americans to come there and play?
15:46 Let's start with you, Gavin.
15:47 It's a good question.
15:50 I think a European franchise would be a great idea.
15:56 I do understand the point about the taxes.
15:59 One of my hats is that I'm also the sports spokesperson for my party down at Westminster
16:05 as well.
16:06 So I've had to deal with some bits of legislation that deals with sports taxation.
16:13 Because for one-off events, whether it's Olympics, European Athletics Championships, whatever
16:17 it happens to be, there is one-off taxation allowances for participants in those games.
16:25 So there is a precedent there in terms of one-off events.
16:29 For people who are based over here, for the team being based over here, that is a different
16:34 question, but certainly one that's worthy of debate.
16:37 I'm not convinced it would be as straightforward as you might hope, Hondo, but we'd certainly
16:43 give it a go.
16:44 If the result was a franchise, a NFL franchise, coming over here, we'd certainly try.
16:49 What do you think, Chris?
16:53 I think there's a couple of sides to that.
16:56 So American football, as you would call it, or NFL, is very popular in the UK and Germany.
17:03 Huge crowds for those games.
17:06 And Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which you guys would call a soccer team, the NFL pitch is
17:14 actually underneath the soccer pitch.
17:16 So the soccer pitch wheels out and the NFL pitch is there.
17:20 So there's a stadium ready for that.
17:22 I think the difference between European sports and American sports is that European teams
17:27 tend to own their stadiums or buy their own stadiums, whereas in America it seems to be
17:31 that they would go to a city and say, "You build the stadium for us."
17:37 So I think that's the difference.
17:39 But there's certainly a market for it.
17:41 I know Jacksonville Jaguars is a team that's been allocated to the UK, and we've done some
17:48 work with them, with the American football all-party parliamentary group that we're involved
17:53 in.
17:54 So they've come in to describe the activities they're doing to promote the Jaguars and the
18:00 NFL going forward.
18:03 So there's definitely a market for it.
18:05 I think there's almost certainly that that would be the case.
18:08 I think it is a pity that the NFL Europe did stop because Gavin was mentioning the Claymores
18:13 games there.
18:14 The Claymores were popular in Scotland.
18:17 The German teams played to big crowds as well.
18:20 So I think that it is expanding because although Kansas City Chiefs call themselves the world
18:25 champions, it's essentially all American teams, isn't it, that's in the NFL.
18:30 There's no other teams.
18:33 Well guys, I'm hoping the Raiders eventually get to London.
18:37 I'd love to meet you both.
18:38 I'll buy the pint and I'll buy dinner.
18:40 I want to buy some Good Shepherd's Pie for you because we don't get Good Shepherd's Pie
18:45 over here.
18:46 So I'll take you out for Shepherd's Pie and a pint on me.
18:49 Last question.
18:50 Have you seen the popular show Ted Lasso?
18:56 I haven't, no, sorry.
18:59 Have you seen it, Gavin?
19:01 I've seen some episodes, yeah.
19:02 I haven't seen it all.
19:04 So it's about a European English soccer team that hires an American football coach at the
19:11 highest level at the Premier League.
19:12 It is hilarious.
19:13 Trust me.
19:14 I'm just new to it.
19:16 So if there's anything in it that's bad, I haven't gotten to that yet.
19:19 But man, it's hilarious.
19:20 You guys would love it.
19:21 Listen, please give me your addresses.
19:23 I want to send you both a gift for being on.
19:25 I greatly appreciate you both.
19:28 It's been great to have you.
19:30 I'm looking forward to meeting you.
19:32 And thank you for sharing with Raider Nation all that you guys do.
19:36 Do you want to share your social media to anybody in case any American Raider fans want
19:40 to follow you?
19:41 Do you want to share that?
19:42 I think there are a number of Raiders fans who do follow me on those.
19:45 So it's just @chrisstevens.
19:47 Very simple.
19:48 It's that one?
19:49 Yeah.
19:50 And @chrisstevens.
19:51 So it's very simple.
19:52 So I know a number of Raiders fans do follow me.
19:58 How about you, Gavin?
20:00 Do you want to tell them?
20:02 Yeah.
20:03 One of the highlights of my Twitter life was when the Las Vegas Raiders followed me.
20:07 So the Raiders actually follow me on Twitter.
20:09 So I'm @GavinNewlandsSNP.
20:13 That's my Twitter or ex handle.
20:15 But thanks for having us on, Hondo.
20:16 It's been really enjoyable.
20:17 And keep up the good work with me.
20:19 Keep all the content coming for those of us in the offside of the pond.
20:25 We love the deep dives, Hondo.
20:27 It always helps explain exactly what's going on behind the scenes.
20:32 And I think there are some excellent articles that you put together.
20:36 Thank you, my friends.
20:37 We've got another deep dive coming.
20:38 It's a big one we're working on.
20:39 It's going to be a big one.
20:40 This one's going to be our first ever.
20:41 Three parts.
20:42 It's so big.
20:43 It's going to take three different articles to tell you.
20:45 So we're looking forward to it.
20:46 So to our friends from Scotland, we raise a pint and say thank you for joining us, gentlemen.
20:52 And I hope that you've enjoyed yourself.
20:54 We appreciate all of you.
20:56 Thanks for tuning in to the Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
21:01 Hondo, one last thing.
21:03 Yeah.
21:04 All right.
21:10 He threw a Raiders in there.
21:11 All right.
21:12 I don't know if you heard it, but my wife's in the other room.
21:13 She yelled it back.
21:14 So there you go, Chris.
21:15 Thanks, guys, for being on.
21:16 We appreciate you.