It's a fall of unrest in East London again. Hammers United, the largest organized fan group at West Ham United, has so far refrained from calling on members of the board or the CEO to resign. Until now. They have launched the campaign "No More BS," targetted specifically at CEO Karen Brady, the B, and chairman David Sullivan, the S. Beyond leafleting, black balloons or protest marches before games, Hammers United are for the first time calling for a match boycott, at West Ham’s next home game, against Brentford on Monday 20th. British media has piled on, with an unprecedented level of scrutiny highlighting the chaotic conditions at West Ham United since Sullivan took over, and the since the move to the London Stadium in 2016. Reason enough to check in again with Andy Payne. He is a chair of the Fan Advisory board, an institution that every Premier League club now must have, and the joint secretary of Hammers United. What’s happening, how, and why?

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Andy Payne on X/twitter

Hammers United on Facebook

Hammers United on the protests

Jacob Steinberg on the protests in The Guardian

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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

Before the Conference League anthem came on in Celje Slovenia, one warm August night this year, today’s guest had a lot of work behind him already while I was was on my way via train, uber and rental car from Bosnia. He is Rok Gregoric, press and pr wizard of NK Celje, a Slovenian club that was long a middling in the league of an already small country but has made it to the group phase of the conference league last year and again this year. A remarkable feat for a really pretty quiet city between the two main Slovenian cities Ljubljana and Maribor. Find out why. But also: what goes on in a smaller club when a UEFA competition comes to town? How do they coordinate with the visitors? What security arrangements have to be made? Where does all the UEFA signage come from? Which media gets which access? Rok takes us behind the scenes of his work, and shares about the club and the city - and a remarkable coach.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

NK Celje, website

Celje, with city history, Wikipedia

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

This is Part 2 of an unusual episode, on the move through countries, memories, wounds, war, peace and the beautiful game.

Sturm Graz is and was a workers club when I came to the club in the 90s, one year before Ivica Osim arrived. We knew he was a mathematician, soccer player and coach, and he knew workers clubs, from Željezničar, in Grbavica, back home in Sarajevo, the city then under a yearlong siege in the Bosnian independence wars. But he added something else. To him, the game was discourse, it was beauty. He explained soccer to us in a way we’d never seen it. Professorial and sometimes grumpy, but always extremely humble. He made us see things in football that we hadn't seen before. And even on the day of his funeral, he made me see things about life that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Osim, an Agnostic and philosopher of football and of the world, is a kind of saint most Bosnians can agree on. He is recommended reading in Japanese schools. And he is the reason why I went to Sarajevo this hot August.

HELPFUL LINKS AND SOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE:

Ivica Osim (Wikipedia)

Tifa (Mladen Vojičić) - Grbavica, live in 1994 (YouTube); intro

Tifa - Grbavica at Grbavica stadium, with Zeljo's fans; (Youtube) outro

Ivica Osim memorial ceremony in Graz (Youtube), during intro

Sev Dah - Grbavica (Youtube) (background track)

CNN's Christiane Amanpour reporting after the Srebrenica genocide (Youtube - warning, brutality and dead bodies)

Uni of Michigan Libraries, resource guide for Bosnian history and culture

Sarajevo (wikipedia)

Visit Sarajevo

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/