Episodes
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Markus Fjortoft (@MarkusFjortoft) and Ciaran McKenna (@CiaranMcKenna8) talk to Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin) about Financial Fair Play, particularly the approach of La Liga and how this compares to the rest of Europe, as well as whether this hinders or spurs growth for La Liga. We also chat about Woke Capitalism, how clubs espouse liberal values while engaging in commercial deals and ownership models that directly contradict said values; how Sports Washing continues to operate; the inadequacy of Fit and Proper Tests, as well as the overlapping trends of inequality and accountability between UK sports and politics, and how fans, players, and the media are supposed to operate in this environment.
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In this episode, Rob Harris (@RobHarris), along with Markus Fjortoft (@MarkusFjortoft) and Ciaran McKenna (@CiaranMcKenna8) , explore the intricacies and complexities of politics within sports. We discuss player activism on social issues, managers’ complicity or non-complicity with their club’s owners, the ethics surrounding the location of sporting events; including the Russia and Qatar World Cups, the Saudi Arabia F1 Grand Prix, and the Beijing Winter Olympics, as well as comparing the difference between politicians engaging with ‘unsavoury’ states with sporting federations. We also discuss Manchester City’s violations of FIFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, the capability of sports regulatory bodies to hold them accountable, whether they are truly independent, and touching on the future of football club ownership and whether viable alternatives exist. Moreover, we ask Rob how he navigates his own political and moral beliefs while reporting on controversial matters and how he asks the hard questions while maintaining journalistic integrity and respect within the community.
Rob Harris is a British sports journalist and Global Sports Correspondant for the Associated Press. Rob’s reporting focuses on the intersection of politics and sports. Notable work includes his coverage of the 2015 FIFA arrests in Zurich, as well as his dogged reporting of what lies behind the success of Man City; from the FIFA FFP violations to the human rights abuses of the club’s owner and deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mansour. Rob regularly appears on MSNBC, BBC, and Sky News.
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Missing episodes?
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From Vancouver with Brian White (@_BrianWhite42) to Glasgow with Markus (@markusfjortoft) and Ciaran (CiaranMcKenna8), this episode follows up on the previous two episodes about pro academies, college, and taking a different approach towards a professional career. Brian candidly reflects on his path from a New Jersey hopeful, through the college experience at Duke University, all the way to the pros with New York Red Bulls and Vancouver Whitecaps. We discuss why it's gone so well at the Whitecaps and how he's dealt with the inevitable setbacks: not being signed to a pro contract after being the 14th pick in the draft, being traded by the Red Bulls, and not being called up to the USMNT. Further, we discuss the key to a good partnership, being a selfless striker, and the mental application to taking the next step. Lastly, we reflect on the rewards of the college system for his development and what he wants to do after his pro football career is over.
Brian White is a striker for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS and a Duke Alumnus. He spent the beginning of his career with the Red Bulls. He had 15 goals in 47 MLS appearances with the club after signing an MLS deal in 2018, having excelled for RBNY's second team in the USL Championship. White was selected in the first round of the 2018 MLS SuperDraft after attending Duke University. Brian was traded to the Vancouver Whitecaps in June 2021 and became a revelation last season. The centre-forward had 12 goals and five assists in 27 appearances for the Canadian club, helping orchestrate a second-half surge under then-interim head coach Vanni Sartini, leading the club to the MLS Cup Playoffs. He agreed to a contract extension through 2025 with a club option for 2026 ahead of this season.
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Mike Noonan (@CoachMikeNoonan) is Head Coach of Clemson Men's University soccer team and current NCAA Division 1 Champion, the national champion of college soccer.
Following retirement from professional soccer, he has gone on to become one of the most well-respected college soccer coaches characterized by an impressive consistency and talent development.
Episode Description
In this talk with @markusfjortoft and @CiaranMcKenna8, he reflects on recruiting character instead of players, taking an educational approach to developing players, cultivating a “winning” culture across decades of coaching, where college fits in the larger American development system and the “software” it provides, and how MLS can do better in recognizing this.
At Ivy League school Brown University, Mike enjoyed consistent success, reaching 8 NCAA appearances, and winning 8 Ivy League Championships. Following his 15 years at Brown, he became head coach at Clemson and has since won 4 ACC Regular Season Championships and 2 Tournament Championships.
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Liam’s Football Focus mini-doc has nearly 200k views on @BBCSport YouTube - Football Focus presents Hidden Pressures. This short form documentary features presenter and ex pro footballer @Liam_macdevitt, who explores the 97% of players who come through the Premier League academy system but do not play a minute of top flight football.
In this chat with @markusfjortoft and @CiaranMcKenna8, Liam talks about the fickle and ruthless nature of football, the pitfall of solely identifying yourself as a footballer, creating improved systems for individuals to grow as people off the field as well as on it, and how far we have actually come.
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Ståle Solbakken is currently the Norwegian Men’s National team manager. He is also a former professional footballer, totaling 298 appearances and 87 goals. Other achievements include being named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, and 2 Danish Superliga championships with Aalborg and Copenhagen in 1999 and 2000, respectively. He represented Norway 58 times, including appearances in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship, and scored nine goals. He ended his playing career in 2001 following a heart attack.
As a manager, Ståle was named 2004 Norwegian Manager of the Year, and he has won a remarkable 8 Danish Superliga championships with Copenhagen. In addition, he took charge of FC Köln during the 2011/12 season and had a 6-month spell as manager of English side Wolves in the 2012/13 season.
Ståle Solbakken talks to Markus Fjørtoft (@markusfjortoft) and Ciaran McKenna (@ciaranmckenna8) about his incredible experiences in football from playing to managing; both domestically and internationally. We cover his unique relationship with the Norwegian club Ham-Kam, the dying art of a goal-scoring midfielder and what contributed to him being one, his success as a player at Lillestrøm and the best 18-months of his career at Aalborg in Denmark, life before and after his cardiac arrest, as well as depicting his 20-year management career covering: his coaching philosophy, the qualities which world-class managers inhabit, building a winning culture at FC Copenhagen, fighting with Pep Guardiola to drinking with him, and transitioning into international football as Norwegian National Team manager - the collective mentality within Norwegian culture and balancing that with encouraging individual talent, as well as the challenge of getting Norwegian talent development ‘right’.
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Uwe Rösler is a German former professional football player and current manager. Uwe grew up in East Germany, attending the renowned school of excellence for elite sports before starting his professional career at Lokomotive Leipzig. He went on to play with several German clubs, including; BSG Chemie Leipzig, FC Magdeburg, Dynamo Dresden, and FC Nurnberg - all before making the move to Man City where he enjoyed the most successful spell of his playing career, scoring a total of 64 goals in 176 games, which earned him a place in City’s Hall of Fame in 2009. He later went on to end his playing career in Norway at Lillestrøm before starting his managerial career at the same club. Since then, he has managed several clubs over the past 17 years, including; Viking, Molde, Brentford, Wigan, Leeds, Fleetwood, Malmö, and most recently Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Uwe shares with Markus and Ciaran his experiences growing up and living in East Germany, which consisted of a regimented yet innovative school of excellence program, threats from Stasi, the secret police force, and being in the middle of the uprisings that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall - all of which had a profound effect on his playing and managerial career.
Further, we go on to discuss his cult hero status at Manchester City and his desire to have retired there, and the cancer that forced him to retire in Norway while at Lillestrøm. Thanks for sharing Uwe.
The latter part of the episode grapples with his managerial career, as we discuss him putting his stamp on a team in an increasingly shorter time-frame for managers, and how he compares himself to when he first started in 2004 both tactically and "politically".
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Raymond Sparkes is UK’s longest serving football agent, having been in the business since 1991. In running ProStar Management, he represented up to 70 clients at one point, including high-profile clients such as Celtic legends Tommy Burns, John Collins, and Artur Boruc. At one point he represented 8 of 11 players in the Celtic line-up. Further, he brokered the first two Bosman deals in the UK. He recently completed his Master of Sports Directorship.
In this candid and in-depth conversation, Raymond talks to Ciaran and Markus about how the industry has changed since he had to put up a 100k bond to become an agent, the delicacy of managing clients and the main reason a career can break down, the all-importance of knowing "what good looks like", the type of players he looks for and why, transitioning to a different generation of players, the accuracy of Jerry Maguire, and the art of strategic positioning from a network and commercial perspective with a certain David Beckham as an example + plenty of anecdotes!
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Join us in this chat as Samuel talks to Markus Fjørtoft (@markusfjortoft) about the inner-media workings at Manchester United. We start off by asking what we ask all journalists: finding the balance between forming relationships with a club and players while reporting the truth and the necessary criticism. Further, we discuss his relationships with the different managers, ranging from Van Gaal to Mourinho and Solskjær, as well as Sir Alex Ferguson's current influence and the weight of expectations tied to the Ferguson DNA, and most critically, the problematic advice players are currently receiving from so-called media experts and the reasons for this tone-deaf approach.
Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) is the Chief Manchester United writer for the Manchester Evening News - the biggest regional football desk in the United Kingdom. He has represented the MEN on the BBC, CNN, TalkSport, Radio 5 Live, and various other media outlets worldwide and has close to 300k followers on Twitter. He also led the launch of the HuffPost UK site's successful sports section as Sports Editor.
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Christian Falk (@cfbayern) currently works as the head of football @sportbild and @BILD_sport, the sports section of Bild, the best-selling European newspaper with the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. As THE Bayern Munich Insider, he has gained notoriety for his "True " or "Not True" reporting, his weekly podcast, "Bayern Insider", and his two books on Bayern, aptly named "Inside FC Bayern" and "Bayern Insider". He has been reporting on FC Bayern since 2000, and has accompanied the German national team to all tournaments since the 2004 European Championship, and currently acts as the team leader of the national team reporters.
In this episode, we aim to get an inside look into the insider (see what we did there) - to get behind the man that is Christian Falk and gain insight as to how he has built the name, reputation, and network to get where he is today.
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Markus Fjørtoft (@markusfjortoft) and Ciaran McKenna (CiaranMcKenna8) talk to Derek Rae (@RaeComm), the legendary Scottish football commentator. His distinguishable voice has vividly guided millions through the bliss and torment of some of the most iconic football games the world has seen in the last three decades. In this special episode, Derek takes us through his love for football and linguistics, starting as a small kid in rural Aberdeen listening to German radio, his move to the US when the sport was only at its infancy, the making of a successful tournament and the players that wowed him, his notorious dedication to pronunciations, the key insight of becoming a FIFA commentator, and an incredible outro to top it all off. This is the legend that is Derek Rae...
Derek Rae is a Scottish football commentator working for ESPN and the Bundesliga/DFL World Feed. Derek has had a distinguished career covering and commentating on football worldwide from the Scottish Premiership to MLS and, more recently, the Bundesliga, as well as in most major international tournaments from the 1990s onwards. In addition, he has been the lead commentator on the popular football video game FIFA for the past three years (having been involved since 2019). He was awarded the 1987 British Sports Broadcaster of the Year.
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Michael Stewart is a Scottish former footballer. He began his professional career at Manchester United, and played for both Edinburgh rivals, Hearts and Hibernian. He also had spells at Nottingham Forest and Charlton, and during his career he was capped four times for Scotland.
Following retirement, Michael has worked as a pundit for BBC Scotland, BT Sport and The Scottish Sun. Furthermore, Michael has started to forge a career into politics, participating in broadcasted political debates and sharing political commentary with his over 100k followers on Twitter.
Michael talks to Markus and Ciaran about how it was growing into an adult at Manchester United, the gradual process in finding the aspired for balance in succeeding both on and off the field, how his move to Manchester sparked his interest in politics, and the subsequent defiance of "sticking to football" which has led him on a path towards carving a role for himself in politics.
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Matt Rizzetta is currently the chairman of North Sixth Group, a family office holding company with a vision to invest in passion, purpose and progress. North Sixth Group has wholly owned and minority interests in various investments across multiple sectors, including real estate, media, technology, travel, and sports and entertainment. The company's notable assets are North 6th Agency, a leading brand communications firm Rizzetta founded in 2010 and served as CEO from 2010 to 2020. Under his leadership, the agency has been ranked as one of the 50 most powerful agencies in the United States. Another asset owned by North Sixth Group is SS Campobasso, a professional football club based in Italy's Serie C. Additionally, the group has recently purchased a 31% ownership stake in Italy's Serie B side Ascoli Calcio, with the option to purchase up to 51% by the end of the 21/22 season.
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Jay Heaps is an American former professional soccer player who is currently the President and General Manager of Alabama-based USL Championship team Birmingham Legion FC. Following four years as a double-athlete at Duke University - he competed with both the Men's soccer team and Men's basketball team (under Coach K) and won the Hermann Trophy (best college soccer player) - Jay made the transition to professional soccer in the MLS beginning at Miami Fusion. After two seasons there, where he won MLS Rookie of the year, Jay moved to New England Revolution, where he spent the rest of his playing career making a total of 243 appearances. In addition, Jay earned 4 US men's national team caps, all coming in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Since retiring from soccer in 2009, Jay wasted no time in pursuing careers off the field. He spent two years at Morgan Stanley as a private wealth manager before heading back to soccer as manager of the New England Revolution, where he remained until 2017.
Jay Heaps (@JayHeaps722) talks to Markus Fjørtoft (@markusfjortoft) and Ciaran McKenna (@ciaranmckenna8) about an extraordinary career molded by both natural and applied excellence. Jay's innate talent coupled with an extreme competitiveness has allowed him to succeed as both a player, coach, wall street wealth manager, and now in the dual role as President and General Manager at newly-started USL Championship team Birmingham Legion. Impressive is an understatement, and we're thrilled to share this episode with you!
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Here We Go! Fabrizio Romano finds the time to talk to us amid all the transfer window chaos! We talk with him about: his background, creating and maintaining his network and how that has changed as he has gotten bigger, how he works a transfer (using the recent Varane transfer as an example), what is in it for the clubs and agents to give him information, and how he looks to develop and expand.
Fabrizio Romano is an Italian journalist from Naples. He is best known for his knowledge and reporting of football transfers, to the extent where he is considered one of the most trusted transfer-related pundits in football. He began working for Sky Sports Italy at the early age of 19 and has since created an excellent network with clubs, agents, and intermediaries all over Europe. He is renowned for his famous tagline on Twitter, “here we go,” which he uses when announcing a new transfer deal. Romano also writes for The Guardian and has over 4 million followers on Twitter.
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Morten Thorsby is a Norwegian Professional Footballer who plays for Sampdoria in the Serie A and the Norway national team. He started playing football locally as a youngster in Oslo, first at IL Heming and then FK Lyn, before joining Stabæk in 2012. He worked his way into the first team at Stabæk, making 14 appearances before attracting the attention of Dutch side SC Heerenveen where he earned a 5-year contract which saw him play in the Eredivisie from 2014-2019. He signed a 4-year deal with Sampdoria in 2019, where he has made 57 appearances thus far. Equally as impressive, Morten is passionately committed to the fight against climate change. He established the foundation, We Play Green, to encourage and assist the football community in utilizing its role in society more positively by adopting environmentally friendly initiatives.
Join us in this insightful chat with Morten, as we discuss mentality, purpose-driven performance, being more than a footballer, his foundation and what he aims to accomplish, and why Miralem Pjanić is the most impressive player he´s played against!
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Born and bred in Mallorca, Antoni (@Aordinas) grew up playing centre-back for a few local teams, including CD Llosetense. He embarked on his UEFA Pro License in his early 30s and coached at youth level for numerous clubs in the Balearic Islands. He made the move to Norway in 2013, where he began coaching at the Norwegian School of Elite Sport, alongside coaching for Norwegian Premiership side Stabæk. While gravitating towards youth football, as both Reserve Team Coach and Youth Technical Director, he became Stabæk Head Coach in 2016, where he remained until the summer of 2018. Highly respected and influential, Toni played a significant role in building up Stabæk´s academy to become one of the best, if not the best, academy in Norway. He then moved on from Stabæk at the beginning of 2019 to begin his new role as Football Academy Director at Lillestrøm SK, another Norwegian Premiership Club. LSK started five academy products in the latest league outing, the highest tally in the 2021 league season.
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Tom (@denty24) started his coaching journey studying Sports Science and Coaching at Brunel University in London, while simultaneously gaining experience working with the Fulham FC Foundation. Following University, he quickly headed to Norway where he started off at the lower league side Follo FK as GK coach for all age groups from the u14s to the first team and coupled with managing the Follo FK youth teams. This experience led him to become assistant manager at 2nd division side Stjørdals-Blink for 10 months before he moved on to become Head Coach of the u19s and reserve team at 2021 Premiership Champions Bodo Glimt, where he focused on player development. He has now recently returned to Stjørdals-Blink earning the 1st team Head Coach role.
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Kevin is a former Scottish footballer who has been playing and coaching in Norway for the last 16 years. Clubs played for include Raith Rovers, Hibernian, Strømsgodset, and Haugesund. He is now an assistant coach at Mjøndalen in the Norwegian Premiership (Eliteserien).
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For 40 years Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 supremo, ran the show and built it into a global sport. Then 4 years ago, Liberty Media, an American mass media company purchased a controlling interest in the Formula 1 group for around $4.5b. Ecclestone´s exit marked a significant shift, as Liberty Media, who see F1 more as an entertainment company rather than a sports organization, accelerated its bid to reach new audiences through the likes social media, a dedicated eSports platform, and an on-demand video service. As opposed to previously limited access to the sport, Liberty Media has sought to open it more up to the public, with moves such as the Netflix Drive to Survive series having an incredible impact on the overall engagement with the sports. Formula 1 is now the fastest-growing major sports property across all the major social platforms.
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