October 11, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is with Daniel Beckley, A&R @ Universal Music. With Wolves being the first UK football club to launch a record label, in this exclusive, Paul and Daniel discuss the business case behind what Wolves are doing and why more clubs should follow suit. As well as the crossover between football and music, our favourite football songs, the rise in footballers producing music, FIFA soundtracks and so much more.
September 27, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is with Mike Rigg, former Technical Director @ Burnley. Mike has also been in high-profile roles at Man City, Fulham, QPR, The FA & Blackburn. In this exclusive, Paul and Mike discuss what it’s like being a TD at a Premier League club and the biggest challenges they face. As well as working with different types of ownership models, convincing Sergio Agüero to sign for Man City, the challenges of player recruitment, what it takes to build and fix a football club and so much more.
September 13, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is with Royce Balogun, older brother to Arsenal wondered Folarin Balogun. In this exclusive, Paul and Royce discuss Folarin’s rise from the u23s to making his Arsenal debut. As well as the importance of player care, the weight of pressure that young ballers carry, the team behind his brother, how brands should approach working with players, the best young players Royce has seen in youth football and so much more.
Please remember to leave a rating/review on Apple Podcast and make sure you are subscribed on your chosen platform so that you get the podcast every fortnight (Mondays)!
August 30, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is with Christian Hurley, Strategy Director @ UMM. In this exclusive, Paul and Christian discuss the YouTube space and the trend around content creators like Chunkz & Harry Pinero linking up with ballers like Jack Grealish & Mason Mount.
As well as Football’s Gen Z problem… are they really losing interest in the current format of football? Do we need FIFA’s new proposals of kick-ins & 30-min halves? Should broadcasters be worried about Gen Z losing interest? Can clubs really go direct and compete with fan channels like AFTV?
Please remember to leave a rating/review on Apple Podcast and make sure you are subscribed on your chosen platform so that you get the podcast every fortnight (Mondays)!
August 16, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is with Tony Sharkey, agent and CEO @ Football Transfer Forum. In this exclusive, Paul and Tony discuss everything transfers and player contracts related from release clauses to preferred agents.
From the talent in the Championship to the pressure of doing deadline day deals. Sit back and enjoy us ramble on about our love for Brentford’s recruitment model, how getting released at 19 inspired Tony to become an agent and the effects of club finances on deals.
May 24, 2021
This week’s What The Footie pod is with Toby Wakefield, brand director for Jesse Lingard & athlete branding expert.
In this exclusive, Paul & Toby discuss the secret behind Jesse’s stellar form at West Ham, what makes the JLingz brand so unique, the media pressure that athletes endure, the unfiltered nature of US sports/athletes compared to the UK, a Jesse Lingard NFT collection, what’s next for Jesse and so much more.
This is the final episode before Paul returns in late July/August from his mini-sabbatical with more content so please do use this time to catchup on our blockbuster episodes, this year, with the likes of Chris Kirkland, Les Reed & Neil Banfield.
May 10, 2021
This week’s What The Footie pod is with sports lawyer, author and podcaster Daniel Geey (Done Deal).
In this exclusive, Paul & Daniel discuss the future of football governance after the European Super League (ESL) fallout, why 50+1 won’t work, is it time for an independent football regulator, salary caps as a form of cost control, the fan-led review & so much more!
Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and follow us on the socials @whatthefootie to submit questions!
April 26, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is with Neil Banfield. Neil spent 21 years coaching at Arsenal alongside Arsene Wenger, coaching the reserves, Elite Group & first team. Working with players like Cesc Fabregas, Ashley Cole, Robin Van Persie, Santi Cazorla, Serge Gnabry & more. He is now currently First-Team coach at QPR.
In this exclusive, we discuss the best youngster he ever saw at Arsenal, his relationship with Arsene Wenger, life behind the scenes at Arsenal, why the Championship is so undervalued, the art of coaching, why the u23s model needs revisiting, the evolution of coaching staff in football, preparing for matchdays and so much more.
April 12, 2021
For Part 2 of my exclusive What The Footie pod with Les Reed, we speak about the ins and outs of Virgil Van Dijk's transfer, the process of trusting young players like Luke Shaw and negotiating with Daniel Levy and super-agent Mino Raiola.
We also speak about England, the U21s performance in the Euros, Jude Bellingham's development, Jamal Musiala picking Germany, Gareth Southgate, project 2024, the biggest mistake that owners make in football & so much more.
If you have loved this 2-part episode please do rate and review the poddy on Apple Podcast and subscribe for more blockbuster content.
April 5, 2021
This week’s What The Footie Pod is an exclusive 2-part episode with Les Reed. Les spent just under a decade at Southampton as Vice-Chairman helping to guide them from League 1 to a sustainable Premier League club & recently spent time as technical director at The FA .
In this episode, Part 1, Paul and Les speak about creating a vision/philosophy with the owners, Pochettino’s interview, the process of scouting players like Mané, who was in the famous blackbox & the pressure of replacing the likes of Ronald Koeman, Luke Shaw, Virgil Van Dijk and so much more.
Make sure you subscribe so you know when Part 2 drops!
