Following last weekend’s sad news of the passing of Sven-Göran Eriksson at the age of 76, Martyn is joined by Rob and Mike to discuss a career that is somewhat overshadowed by England and what came after but really needs to be remembered better.

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The Premier League season of 1994/95 had so much going on that there could be multiple volumes covering it. Rob Fletcher has distilled it all into one brilliant new book that has so much detail that it almost falls off of the page. He sits down with Martyn to discuss the sleaze and scandal off the pitch, an incredible title race own it and the signings that shaped the future of English football.

Rob’s book comes out on Monday 26th August.

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Our last draft of the year goes back to 1984-85, the season when the greatest team in Everton’s history romped to glory. Martyn, Gary and Mac Millings select their XIs from Division One that season. As you can imagine, Gary is like a pig in Chardonnary throughout.

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Martyn and Rob are joined by Rob Fletcher (aka 90s Football Writer) to pick their England XIs from a storied decade. As well as reaching the semi-finals of Italia 90 and Euro 96, England were involved in a true World Cup classic at France 98 and reached Euro 92 when it was still an eight-team tournament. Let’s not dwell on what happened when they got there).

Some players were mainstays for large parts of the 1990s: Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer, David Platt, Stuart Pearce, David Seaman, Paul Ince and Tony Adams. Others burned brightly and briefly at either end of the decade: Gary Lineker, Michael Owen, Chris Waddle, Paul Scholes and Mark Wright.

You can listen the pod and then vote for the winning team @nessundormapod.

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With the 2023 World Cup entering its final week, Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Jonathan Hungin and Andrew Miller for another cricket draft - this time the fondly remembered 1992 edition in Australia and New Zealand.

It was the first World Cup with coloured clothing, white balls and Powerplays at the start of the innings. After a wretched start to the tournament, Pakistan’s cornered tigers roared to victory, beating England in a memorable final at the MCG.

This was a different era of ODI cricket, with only eight centuries scored in the entire tournament. But it was chockfull of legends of the past, present and future, from 39-year-old Imran Khan to 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, not to mention some celebrated one-tournament wonders.

These are the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft:

* Each player can only be picked by one person. When Wasim Akram has gone, he’s gone.

* Players are judged solely on their performances in the 1992 World Cup. So, for one draft only, Eddo Brandes is a better pick than Malcolm Marshall.

* You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X (@nessundormapod) on Wednesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

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Nessun Dorma ventures into new territory this week, with Martyn and Rob joined by two special guests for our first ever cricket episode. Jonathan Hungin and Andrew Miller, who worked with Rob at Wisden.com at the turn of the century, join us to draft their XIs from the memorable 1999 World Cup.

The list of players includes all-time greats hitting the heights (Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Rahul Dravid, Wasim Akram, Allan Donald) and unheralded players having the best month of their careers (Gavin Hamilton, Neil Johnson, Geoff Allott).

Somewhere in the middle was Lance Klusener, who dominated the tournament to a frightening degree before a devastating twist in the semi-final against Australia.

These are the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft:

* Each player can only be picked by one person. When Klusener has gone, he’s gone.

* Players are judged solely on their performances in the 1999 World Cup. So, for one draft only, Moin Khan and Ridley Jacobs are better picks than Adam Gilchrist.

* You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X (@nessundormapod) on Wednesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

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Martyn and Rob are joined by Rob Fletcher, author of 1992: The Birth of Modern Football, and Ally Bain of Retro Football Analysis to pick their teams from a classic European season. Marquee picks include Raul, Oliver Kahn, Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Redondo, Patrick Kluivert, Mario Jardel, Roy Keane, Luis Figo, Rivaldo and Jaap Stam.

A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft:

* Each player can only be picked by one person. When Raul has gone, he’s gone.

* Players are judged solely on their performances in the Champions League in 1999-2000. So, for one season only, Ivan Campo is a better pick than Tony Adams.

* You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X (@nessundormapod) on Wednesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

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Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Rob Fletcher, author of the superb 1992: The Birth of Modern Football, to draft their teams from the inaugural Premier League season. Marquee picks include Eric Cantona, Alan Shearer, Paul Ince, Paul McGrath, Les Ferdinand, Steve Staunton, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs.

A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft:

* Each player can only be picked by one person. When Eric Cantona has gone, he’s gone.

* Players are judged solely on their performances in the Premier League in 1992-93. So, for one season only, Micky Quinn is a better bet than Ian Rush.

* You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X (@nessundormapod) on Wednesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

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It’s a big one this week: France 98, a tournament full of great games and all-time-great players. Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by the Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg - who worked with Glenn Hoddle on his autobiography, Playmaker - to draft their XIs from the balmy, barmy summer of 1998.

A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft:

* Each player can only be picked by one person. When Ronaldo has gone, he’s gone.

* Players are judged solely on their performances at France 98. Thus: Jose Luis Chilavert good, Teddy Sheringham not so good.

* You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X (@nessundormapod) on Wednesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

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This week’s draft is a challenge: picking an XI from England internationals of the 1980s. Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by… nobody, and that’s probably a good thing because it's hard enough finding 33 players, never mind 44.

A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft:

1. Each player can only be picked by one person. When Bryan Robson and Gary Lineker have gone, they’ve gone.

2. Players are judged solely on their form for England in the 1980s. Greatness at club level, or for England at Italia 90, is worth bugger all.

3. You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X on Tuesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

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We’re going draft daft over the next few weeks, with a mini-series devoted to arguing over the best XIs from various tournaments, seasons and eras.

We start with English football’s summer of love, also known as Euro 96. Martyn and Rob are joined by Mike Gibbons, whose When Football Came Home is the best book around on that tournament, and Jonathan O’Brien, author of the definitive European Championship history.

The rules of the draft are simple:

* Each player can only be picked by one person. When Matthias Sammer has gone, he’s gone.

* Players are judged solely on their form during Euro 96. Thus: Dieter Eilts good, Zinedine Zidane not so good.

* You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter/X on Tuesday morning to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at 5pm on Friday (UK time).

* All the Euro 96 squads in full

* Euro 96 statistics, awards and team of the tournament

The first rule of Draft Club is… YOU MUST TALK ABOUT DRAFT CLUB. The more people who listen to the podcast, the more of these we can do, so please spread the word. And send your ideas for future drafts to @nessundormapod.

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Gary and Rob talk to Martyn about his book Revolution: Rangers 1986-92, and how Graeme Souness changed Scottish football when he became player-manager at Ibrox. It was a perfect storm, and for a short time Rangers had a pulling power that not even England’s biggest clubs could match. Souness was prepared to rip up traditions - and pick fights with just about everyone - in his attempt to continue lifting trophies after hanging up his boots.

Revolution: Rangers 1986-92 by Martyn Ramsay is published by DB.

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And so, we reach the end.

A stellar cast gathers around the microphones as Rob Smyth returns to join Gary, Mike, Jonathan and Martyn to debate whether the 1994 Final is harshly treated, where this tournament sits in the World Cup pantheon, how Finals affect our judgement of that and some overall thoughts and highlights.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive and we’ll be back soon with a lot more to come.

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Welcome to the Nessun Dorma Book Club, a kind of sporting Late Review but without Tony Parsons.

The premise this week is simple: Mike, Gary and Martyn bring a football book that made an impact on their lives and explain why.

From the definitive and myth-shattering history of West German football and the instant window into the past provided by Panini to a delve into the world of sports psychology at a time when Sven-Göran Eriksson was still considered to be a Svengali and not a Scandi Benny Hill, there is something here for everyone.

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Welcome to the inaugural Nessun Dorma Draft, in which we each pick an XI from a particular tournament, season or era. Given the name of our podcast, we had to start with a trip back to Italia 90.

Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Mac Millings to pick their XIs from a tournament full of superstars.

These are the rules:

1. Each player can only be picked by one person. When Andy Brehme has gone, he’s gone.

2. Players are judged solely on their form during Italia 90. Thus: Salvatore Schillaci good, Marco van Basten bad.

3. Managers must announce their planned formation before the draft begins.

4. You decide who wins the draft. Go to Twitter, X or whatever it’s called today to choose which team you think is the best. The poll will close at midday on Friday (UK time).

As well as giving four ageing men a frankly disproportionate thrill, the draft is an excuse to rhapsodise the players we love from Italia 90, and to make snide comments about each other’s selections.

You can view our teams in formation by clicking here, though you may want to leave that until after you’ve listened to the pod.

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In the last episode of our Euro 88 special, Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Jonathan O’Brien to discuss the final in Munich and the tournament as a whole.

They look at whether the suspended Oleg Kuznetsov would have changed the game, why we remember the Netherlands so fondly and whether a goal as extraordinary as Marco van Basten’s can create the illusion of inevitability.

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Both Euro 88 semi-finals were intriguing culture clashes. The first match, in Hamburg, was loaded with historical significance. West Germany v Netherlands evoked the 1974 World Cup final and even the second world war. A good (if slightly overrated) match had a savage late twist that went straight into European Championship folklore.

USSR v Italy did not have the same mutual enmity, but they were also a study in contrasts. The Soviet Union were experienced and streetwise, Italy young and upbeat. They met on a dank, moody night in Stuttgart.

Martyn, Mike and Rob are joined by Jonathan O’Brien – author of the superb Euro Summits, a history of the European Championship – to discuss both games and give some love to a slightly forgotten great: Andreas Brehme.

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By the final round of group games, Euro 88 was effectively a six-team tournament. Denmark and England were already eliminated and barely had any pride left to play for.

Group A was concluded with simultaneous games on Friday night, just a week – and a lifetime – after the tournament had begun. The hosts West Germany played Spain in Munich, with the likelihood that the semi-finals wouldn’t be big enough for the both of them. West Germany needed a draw, Spain a win.

Italy, who many felt had been the best team in the tournament to date, needed only a draw against Denmark to guarantee qualification.

Group B was settled the following afternoon, with the BBC deciding to show Republic of Ireland’s decisive match against the Netherlands instead of England v USSR. Assuming a collectively depressed England side didn’t win that game (spoiler alert…), Ireland knew they would reach the semis with a draw. The Netherlands had no such luxury; if they didn’t win, they were almost certainly going home.

Martyn, Gary and Rob chat about all four games… and Bryan Robson taking our his frustrations on Peter Shilton’s chin. Oh, and Rob’s dog Margot makes an unscripted appearance.

If you like the podcast, please spread the word and rate/review us on your podcast app. The more people who listen to Nessun Dorma, the greater our chances of one day telling The Man where he might like to deposit his 9-5.

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Euro 88 was only four days old when the second of group games began, but our old friend jeopardy was already running amok. After a nervous start, the hosts West Germany took on an ailing Denmark in Gelsenkirchen. A few hours later, also in Group A, Italy met Spain in what was felt like a de facto quarter-final.

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we rushed home from school (or, in Gary’s case, grabbed a seat in front of a 15-inch TV with a load of fashionistas) for the big one: England v the Netherlands, a match that both teams could barely afford to draw, never mind lose.

In the evening, Ireland produced arguably the finest performance of the Jack Charlton years against the USSR in a game that included a famous goal and a forgotten first touch to die for.

Martyn, Gary and Rob rave about a teenage Paolo Maldini, discuss English football’s obsession with individual heroism, question an iconic hat-trick and celebrate a partnership from the future: Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten.

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Our look back at Euro 88 continues with the first round of group games. On Friday 10 June 1988, the tournament kicked off with a tense match between West Germany, the hosts and favourites, and a vibrant young Italian side.

The other Group A game took place the following afternoon, a thrilling if slightly shambolic contest between Denmark and Spain. There were five goals and a fair bit of controversy, but the highlight for English audiences was a brief, comic loss of temper from the usually immaculate Barry Davies.

In Group B, two of the pre-tournament favourites – England and the Netherlands – got underway. England faced an FA Cup tie against the Republic of Ireland, whose 20-man squad included 16 England-based players.

In the evening we finally got to see the Netherlands, including their Ballon d’Or-winning captain Ruud Gullit. They took on European Championship royalty: the USSR.

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A new series of Nessun Dorma starts with the first part of our deep dive into Euro 88, the last major tournament in Europe before the big bang of Italia 90. Martyn Ramsay, Gary Naylor and Rob Smyth set the scene for a much anticipated tournament. “Whatever happens,” wrote David Lacey in his preview for the Guardian, “the 1988 European Championship should set new standards on the field.”

Martyn, Gary and Rob discuss where football was at in 1988, recall the highlights of qualification – including Ireland’s favourite Scotsman and the Cypriot keeper who was almost blown up – and preview each team’s prospects ahead of the tournament. Were England valid second favourites? How much did we know about the Netherlands? And who was Matthias Herget?

The draw

Group 1 West Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark

Group 2 England, Netherlands, USSR, Republic of Ireland

Pre-tournament odds

7/4 West Germany

5/1 England, Netherlands

13/2 Italy

7/1 USSR

11/1 Spain, Denmark

25/1 Republic of Ireland

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Nessun Dorma returns from hibernation for a one-off special ahead of the World Cup, and a deep dive into one of the greatest matches in its storied history: the Espana 82 semi-final between West Germany and Germany.

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Lee, Mike and Gary pick a couple of goals each from the legendary BBC VHS

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As we approach the penultimate hurdle it is time to take a wider view of the two main protagonists at this World Cup. Dominic Hougham, author of ‘50 Great World Cup Matches…and why you should watch them’, joins Martyn to discuss Italy’s semi final with Bulgaria but also the tensions between free spirits and control-freak coaches and the national team’s performance in an era of league domination. Pete Watson returns to look at Brazil v Sweden, the importance of the World Cup to the Brazilian nation and how they look back on this more prosaic side 30 years on.

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Gary Naylor chats to Tom Whitworth about his book, When the Seagulls Follow the Trawler: Football in the 90s. They get into the thrills and spills of a tumultuous decade that included the founding of the Premier League, the transformation of stadiums and Gareth Southgate disappointing us in a penalty shoot-out.

Tom spoke to plenty of those who were there to witness and, indeed, to instigate the changes that reverberate down the years to today.

When the Seagulls Follow the Trawler: Football in the 90s is published by Pitch

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We're back for another Extra Time and with the rescheduled Euro 2020 on the way, Mike has a chat with the author of the definitive history of the tournament. Jonathan O'Brien is an editor and writer for the Business Post in Ireland, and has written the recently published Euro Summits: The Story of the UEFA European Championship 1960 to 2016.

Mike and Jonathan chew the fat over the writing of the book, the origins of the tournament, the buried treasure in its history, its most famous moments and its place in the international football calendar.Covering 60 years of competition, almost 300 matches and some of the greatest stories in the history of football, it's a momentous work and one that we highly recommend you purchase.

It was published by Pitch Publishing and is available here: Euro Summits: The Story of the Uefa European Championships 1960 to 2016.

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Our Gary talks to the much loved Pat Nevin about his new memoir, The Accidental Footballer, already a bestseller. En route, we hear about Tommy Tuchel and the alchemy of football management, why it really was better growing up on cinder pitches in the 70s and what it was like on the other side of the whitewash when Everton played Liverpool in the 1989 FA Cup Final.And why Gary thought Pat was lying next to him in bed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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It’s a shift in focus in this episode as Nessun Dorma takes a look at the bottom half of the Premier League table, and the extraordinary denouement of the 1993-94 season.Gary, Mike and special guest Scott Murray pick over the bones of a dramatic final day scrap, with five teams fighting to avoid the two remaining passes through the trap door and into Division 1.Gary reflects on a remarkable comeback by Everton and his memories from the Gwladys Street End that day, as one of England’s grand old clubs sailed perilously close to the wind. Elsewhere we’ll lament the demise of Oldham, celebrate the most significant patch of Matt Le Tissier’s storied career and look at the shocking fall of Sheffield United, who were safe all day until the very last seconds at Stamford Bridge.There’s a lovely montage of the goals and changes in the table from that day here, with doors sliding all over the place: Premier League 1994 Last Day - Sheffield United relegatedOur Player of the Pod is Eric Gates, Ipswich Town’s man-in-the-hole before we really knew what the hole was. Paul Howarth joins us for a quick chat about the Tractor Boys' other beloved Geordie. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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We’re back with another Extra Time, our little offshoot that takes a broader look around the world of football culture. This week our guest is David Hartrick – publisher, podcaster and author of a fantastic new book, Silver Linings: Bobby Robson’s England.Mike sits down with David for an extended chat about the writing of the book, and an overview of Robson’s time in charge of the national side during the most turbulent decade in the history of English football. It’s a tenure that starts in disappointment and culminates with the cathartic rush of Italia ’90, with a whole lot more in between.We can’t recommend the book enough, and it’s available here: https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/silver-linings See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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25 years after that night at Anfield; Lee, Mike and special guest Scott Murray consider Keegan, Evans, Collymore closing in and all the other kamikaze football that formed perhaps the greatest match of our lifetimes. We reflect on the match's impact on the title race as well as our personal remembrances alongside an almost minute by minute admiration of the sheer quality on show.As usual we also select a Player of the Pod,with Brazilian icon of uber-cool Socrates our pick for this episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Having looked at the Villa players individually, Lee, Gary and Mike return to discuss what they achieved collectively. The hors d’oeuvre is Villa’s first league title in 71 years, achieved after a Homeric tussle through the 1980-81 season with Bobby Robson’s Ipswich and using just 14(!) players.Follow that, as they say, and oh boy, did they. Villa then won the European Cup at the first time of asking in 1981-82, despite Tony Barton taking over from Ron Saunders halfway through the campaign, and then topped it off by beating Barcelona to win a comically violent European Super Cup final. We reflect on the legacy of these achievements and ask why this team seems to be so underappreciated in English football. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Once upon a time in the Midlands, there was a moneyball miracle. Come and join Lee, Gary and Mike as they travel all the way back to 1980, one of the outer markers of the Nessun Dorma time period, to look at Aston Villa’s epic achievements at the start of that decade.In part one we take a look at how that team was assembled by manager Ron Saunders, running the rule over players like Allan Evans, Dennis Mortimer, Gordon Cowans, Tony Morley, Peter Withe and one of English football’s greatest lost talents, Gary Shaw. Firstly though we kick things off with our Player of the Pod, and reflect on the career of jet-heeled winger Andrei Kanchelskis See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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In 1983, Ajax decided not to renew the contract of Johan Cruyff, reasoning he was past it at the age of 36. So Cruyff, in the highest possible dudgeon, signed for their bitter rivals Feyenoord – and then won the Double with them, despite an 8-2 defeat at Ajax along the way. Rob talks to Andy Bollen, author of Fierce Genius, about that extraordinary final season and what it tells us about one of the greatest footballers of all time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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In Part Two, Keegan goes into full Keegan mode, with the smiles broad as England take a 2-0 lead against Portugal in their first group match. The panel reflect on why David Beckham was right in his belief that it was a precarious lead as Portugal eventually cruised to an easier victory than the 2-3 scoreline suggests.After a 1-0 win over a ponderous Germany in which Keegan’s lack of tactical nous mattered less than his ability to motivate players, the epic drama concludes with the tragicomic defeat to Romania, Phil Neville’s impetuous late foul and the subsequent penalty leaving England, with Fowler, Owen and Scholes looking on from the bench, needing a goal that doesn’t come.In the epilogue, a miserable farewell to the miserable old Wembley Stadium sees Didi Hamann skid in a long-range winner and Keegan resign in the toilets, some players in tears and Keegan himself writing his obituary as an England manager - "I'm not up to it”. He may not have been, but Rob, Lee and Gary, with the perspective of 20 years, find that there’s much to commend about the lad from Doncaster whose heart was always to be found just below the T-shirt line we hear so much about these days. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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There is another bumper episode for you all this week as we reach the quarter finals. Gary and Mike are back to discuss four excellent football matches but before they do, coach and retro football analyst Alistair Bain takes us through the tactical approach of the last eight sides left in the competition.

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Kevin Keegan - England manager? What a loser!Lee, Rob and Gary unwrap that reductive statement and conclude that while Joseph Kevin Keegan may have lost, he was no loser. In Part One, the initial focus is on the optimism that beamed out of little KK, striding out at Wembley in the sunshine, basking in the love of a capacity crowd, Poland seen off in a Euro 2000 qualifier, a Paul Scholes hat-trick the high for both player and manager in an England shirt / blazer. After an examination of the curious relationship between Keegan and Michael Owen, the remainder of England’s qualifying campaign is tracked through to its conclusion in a nervy 0-1 home loss to Scotland after a 0-2 win in the play-off first leg, England stumbling into the Euros. It was a portent of things to come.Player of the Pod this month is Chelsea’s charismatic Number 10, the man we loved to love, Gianfranco Zola.The panel track his career from the footballing backwater of lower league Sardinia to understudying Maradona (and more) at Napoli, European success at Parma, then bringing his crooked smile and dancing feet to Stamford Bridge. There's goals and glory in the Chelsea years before he keeps his word to fans on the island of his birth and finishes his playing career at Cagliari.

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Gary, Rob and Mike are back to discuss the transformation of Arsenal during Arsène Wenger’s first full season.We take an in-depth look at two Premier League classics, as Arsenal chin Manchester United home and away. The latter of those at Old Trafford was part of one of the most Homeric runs in English football history, as Arsenal went unbeaten from Boxing Day 1997 until 3 May 1998 to rip the league title away from Alex Ferguson’s seemingly unassailable team.We look at how a futuristic and frighteningly quick attack was grafted onto George Graham’s legendary back five, creating a hybrid that swept all before it and completed the second Double in Arsenal’s history. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Arsène? Who could ever forget him. Yet in September 1996 Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger was a relative unknown in the UK when he left Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan to take charge of Arsenal. Gary, Rob and Mike discuss his early impact at the club, from broccoli to booze restrictions and how boring, boring Arsenal would eventually become breathtaking. We then take in the early part of their 1997-98 season, where Denis Bergkamp was on fire and Ian Wright broke the club scoring record. Don’t be too put off though, Spurs fans: the episode kicks off with us taking more care of Steve Archibald by inducting him into our Underrated Hall of Fame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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We’ve arrived at the last eight in France, and Gary, Rob and Mike have much to discuss.Settle in for a chat about two of the greatest World Cup matches of the modern era, one of the most celebrated goals in the history of the tournament, the bombshell story that broke just before the final and a Petit goal that’s anything but.We also reflect on the tournament as a whole, picking our favourite moments and matches, and run the rule over the FIFA All-Star squad. Then – and only then – are we done with the 1998 World Cup. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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That isn’t a misprint – we really have spun the thick end of two hours out of one round of World Cup football. Gary, Rob and Mike return for a review of the last 16 in France. We look at a devastating performance by Ronaldo, the World Cup’s first ever golden goal and there’s an extended segment on an epic tussle between England and Argentina that goes on almost as long as the game itself. Around that we also take a look back at the career of Michel Platini and note the recent passing of Liverpool and England goalkeeping legend Ray Clemence. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, then you're Nessun Dorma's target demographic. We're back, and to open season four we're focusing on the last World Cup of the twentieth century. Part 1 of our review of France 98 takes in the group stages - Brazil as a Nike product line, the Blanco hop, Des Lynam wondering why you're not at work, Ivan Zamorano's energetic singing, Sunday Oliseh's half-volley humdinger and much more besides. As a bonus feature we also take a look back at the career of The Cannonball Kid, Charlie Nicholas See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Middlesbrough’s 1996-97 season was the mother of all rollercoasters. They reached two cup finals, lost them both and were relegated – yet they were talk of the football world. Rob talks to Tom Flight, author of Yer Joking Aren’t Ya?, about Boro’s madcap season: the AWOL superstars, the hat-trick of 3-3 draws, the three-point deduction that ultimately sent them down - and the sheer joy of watching Juninho.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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It’s 25 years since Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League title in incredible circumstances.  In the last episode of our current season, Rob talks to John Duerden, author of Rovers Revolution, about Blackburn’s dramatic rise under Jack Walker, the monstrous brilliance of Alan Shearer – and that unforgettable afternoon at Anfield. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Possibly the oldest football we have ever discussed, as we take on the 1981 film about a match in the 1940s.  Join Lee, Scott Murray and Carrie Dunn as they ramble about the film that all people in their right mind should adore. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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In five and a half years at Old Trafford, Ron Atkinson made Manchester United glamorous again. Rob talks to Wayne Barton, author of Que Sera Sera, about the glorious victories, the doomed title challenges and whether fewer beers would have meant more trophies See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Pundits and commentators were forced to admit that the Group Stages of USA ‘94 had delivered. But would that attacking and entertaining football continue now the real business was upon us? Yes. Yes it would. Mike, Jonathan and Gary join Martyn to feast themselves on an array of enjoyable games including one of the greatest of all time.

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Gary and Mike are joined by special guest Lionel Bernie, ghost writer of the fantastic Graham Taylor autobiography 'In His Own Words', for a look at the Watford managerial legend's time in charge of the national side. It's all here - Euro 92, subbing off Gary Lineker, that documentary, some reprehensible tabloid coverage, the doomed bid to reach USA '94 and an inspiring speech in Rotterdam that makes our eyes very moist indeed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Now that Silsoe’s “Aztec Gold” has faded out, it’s time to put on “Aztec Lightning” by Heads. Gary, Rob and Mike are back to complete their review of the 1986 World Cup with a look at the knockout phases in Mexico, and there’s an awful lot going on here. Tuck in for two of the greatest World Cup matches of all time, a heart-breaking 5-1 thrashing and one man taking over the tournament like never before. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Strike up "Aztec Gold" by Silsoe, because we’re about to take you on a 2-part journey back to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. In this first episode Gary, Rob and Mike discuss (among other things) qualification, mascots, altitude, the group stages and Bobby Robson putting his faith in Everton for a crucial match against Poland See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Lee, Rob and Gary take a (very) long look at the 1994-95 Season Of Sleaze, including drugs, battered taxi drivers, bungs, a kung-fu kick, a tearful press conference and much more. There's also a tall Irishman in the Underrated Hall of Fame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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