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  • 129. The Matchday Experience

    129. The Matchday Experience
    Feb 20 2026
    Andy Hamilton, Jon Holmes and Colin Shindler ask the question “Has the match day experience improved over the years they have been going to watch football?” You would think the answer would be that of course it has. We all have a seat, the food, whatever the price, couldn’t be worse than it was in the 1960s and ‘70s, we are never caught in those frightening swayings on the terraces and the clubs appear to want to turn football into some weird version of show business. But… why don’t we see those marching bands on the pitch any more and what happened to Arthur Cager, the man in a white coat on a stand conducting the crowd in Abide With Me and She’s A Lassie From Lancashire before the start of the Cup Final. Is this new awkward marriage between show biz and football something the crowds really welcome? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    46 Min.
  • 128. What Happened To All The British Managers?

    128. What Happened To All The British Managers?
    Feb 13 2026
    The television interview with a British manager after a match has become quite a rare bird, although recent events at Manchester United and Chelsea have slightly altered that perception. Prior to those appointments, Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and David Moyes flew the Union Jack and we currently also have Rob Edwards and Scott Parker – though their stay in the Premier League looks destined to be over in May. For some time though, Match of the Day has felt like a procession of foreign managers brought in by foreign owners. It seems that the only way to become a British manager in the Premier League is to be promoted from the Championship. Colin Shindler, Jim White and Jon Holmes ponder how this situation has come about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    44 Min.
  • 127. Which footballers have been influential, either consciously or unconsciously, in affecting or impacting their nations positively (or negatively)?

    127. Which footballers have been influential, either consciously or unconsciously, in affecting or impacting their nations positively (or negatively)?
    Feb 6 2026
    Recently we had the Africa Cup of Nations with that absurd ending rescued by the grown up behaviour of Sadio Mane. During the course of the competition we were constantly reminded of how much Mo Salah means to the people of Egypt. However, Omid Djalili, Colin Shindler and Jon Holmes also look at the downside. When Luis Suarez was sent off for biting for the third time in the 2014 World Cup after taking a mouthful from the shoulder of the Italy defender Georgio Chiellini – they wonder whether the people of Uruguay were sympathetic to the way Suarez’ assuaged his hunger pains or whether they were properly embarrassed. Football throws up heroes and villains on a regular basis. How much impact do their actions have on the perception of their country? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    42 Min.
  • 126. The North-South Divide

    126. The North-South Divide
    Jan 30 2026
    When the Football League started in 1888 there were six clubs from the Midlands and six from Lancashire. Now look at the Premier League. Of the current 20 clubs, nine come from the effete South of England, in other words almost half. Jon Holmes, Colin Shindler and Jim White discuss whether this is a North-South divide or a London-versus-the-rest-of-the-country divide. We know to what extent football is ruled by money and we know that the North-South divide is a slightly euphemistic way of describing the disadvantaged North versus the over privileged South. So much is self-evident. But is this increasing concentration of wealth in the southern half of the country a good thing or a bad thing for football?” Listen to the podcast and let us know what you think (and where you live!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    47 Min.
  • 125. Our Most Depressing Defeats

    125. Our Most Depressing Defeats
    Jan 23 2026
    Colin Shindler asks Jon Holmes and Andy Hamilton to relive their football related nightmares. They are forced under forensic questioning to remember what they had hoped they had buried forever in the deepest recesses of their memories. In other words, those defeats which evoke the very darkest of thoughts. They don’t have to be 9-0 thrashings to do that. They can be games when you’re 1-0 up and coasting and then two stupid, stupid, stupid goals in stoppage time turn victory into defeat. There can be narrow defeats in important games or games decided by the insanity and incipient blindness of the match officials. Either way you leave the ground wondering why you bothered getting out of bed and coming in the first place. The Football Ruined My Life audience knows exactly what that feels like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    47 Min.
  • 124. Those We Have Lost In 2025

    124. Those We Have Lost In 2025
    Jan 16 2026
    This week Colin Shindler, Jon Holmes and Jim White pay tribute to some of the players who died in 2025 plus two journalists and one referee. As most of our listeners are probably in their 60s and 70s, the deaths of players like Billy Bonds, John Robertson and perhaps above all Denis Law bring to the surface fears about our own mortality. If you loved the football and the footballers of the 1960s and 1970s, when our love for the game was sealed, you probably find, as we do, these deaths to be particularly poignant. Those we are talking about in this edition are many and varied, famous and unknown. They include a player who kickstarted my second career, a goalkeeper who made 5 appearances and spent nearly all of his 10 years at my club in the reserves and a centre half who scored an own goal in three consecutive games. Isn’t that worth commemorating? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    52 Min.
  • 123. Are Modern Refs Too Fussy?

    123. Are Modern Refs Too Fussy?
    Jan 9 2026
    Anyone who watches The Big Match Revisited every Saturday morning on ITV4 will notice that referees in the 1970s and 1980s used to wave play on so much more often - which meant that the game flowed and wasn’t constantly hauled back for yet another free kick. You also pretty much had to amputate an opponent’s leg below the knee before you could be sent off. A sending off in the 1960s and 1970s was a big deal and the player was usually embarrassed and upset. Squads were of course much smaller so losing a key player for 28 days (which was how punishments were given then) was a serious blow to the team’s prospects for the next month. Now of course getting a red card is regarded as part of the day job and if you can get yourself sent off a week before Christmas and receive an automatic three match suspension you get a nice family Christmas at home. To an extent of course this isn’t really down to the individual referee. Referees are under examination from an official observer sitting in the stand and they can be overruled by VAR. They used to be the sole arbiters of what happens on the pitch. Now they aren’t. Jimmy Mulville, Colin Shindler and Jon Holmes discuss whether or not this trend is good for the game and particularly for the spectators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    50 Min.
  • 122. Club Legends

    122. Club Legends
    Jan 2 2026
    This week the Colin, Jon and Omid are talking about those players beloved by the fans but usually underrated by fans of other clubs. In other words, club legends - usually players who play for one club for the whole of their career who do not appear to be tempted by a transfer to a club more likely to win trophies… and who certainly wouldn’t leave the club just for the sake of increasing even by a significant amount their weekly wage packet. Have such players entirely disappeared from our game? That loyalty was quite prevalent at one time in the game. Every single listener to this podcast with a strong affiliation to one particular club could probably name a club legend who stuck around for years, never in contention for international honours, never sought by European clubs, rarely injured - a person who gave their all for the club even if they were less gifted than some team mates. They were what gave their club their unique image. They were players like Billy Bonds at West Ham, Harry Cripps at Millwall, Tony Dunne at Manchester United, Alan Oakes at City… the list goes on. Who is on your list? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    49 Min.