Football Ruined My Life â Details, episodes & analysis
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Football Ruined My Life
Colin Shindler, Jon Holmes, Paul Kobrak (and the late Patrick Barclay)
Sports
Frequency: 1 episode/8d. Total Eps: 144
When Football Ruined My Life started back at the beginning of 2023 it was the new podcast about old football.Â
In it, distinguished football journalist Patrick Barclay joined with Colin Shindler, author of the best selling Manchester United Ruined My Life, and the Super Agent Jon Holmes (think Gary Lineker, Peter Shilton, Tony Woodcock etc.) to talk about football as it used to be in the days before the invention of the Premier League.Â
For over 80 weekly episodes, the podcast viewed those days fondly - though not uncritically - in comparison to today's game, which it views critically though not unfondly. And it welcomed everyone who wants to remember Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Charlton, Brian Clough and Bill Shankly and the days when you went to a Football League ground to watch your football and didn't wait for it to arrive on television.Â
After the tragic and untimely death of Paddy Barclay in February 2025, Football Ruined My Life took a break to consider how (and if) to carry on.
In May 2025 it has returned, with a panel of stars to make irregular appearances to join the regulars, Jon Holmes and Colin Shindler. These now include writer and producer Andy Hamilton, television executive Jimmy Mulville, the sports journalist and columnist for the Daily Telegraph Jim White and stand-up comedian Omid Djalili.
But the feel and raison d'ĂȘtre of Football Ruined My Life remains the same. Still nostalgic? Yes. Still well informed? Certainly. But above all, it continues to glory in the football of our youth when the game seemed charmingly innocent, full of skillful, good hearted, kindly men like Norman Hunter, Ron Harris and Peter Storey.
Join us every week for a romp through the 1960s, 70s, 80s and beyond that will warm you like a cup of scalding hot Bovril.Â
Produced by Paul Kobrak.
Contact the team at footballruinedmylife@gmail.com
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đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
28/06/2026#42đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
26/06/2026#82đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
25/06/2026#80đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
24/06/2026#64đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
23/06/2026#43đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
22/06/2026#29đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
21/06/2026#58đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
20/06/2026#48đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
19/06/2026#60đŹđ§ Great Britain - football
16/06/2026#65
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64. Formations
vendredi 6 septembre 2024 âą Duration 48:35
We grew up with the old WM formation. Brazil won the World Cup with 4-2-4 and Alf Ramsey did the same thing with what was called the Wingless Wonders, in other words 4-3-3.  After that, another âforwardâ was withdrawn into midfield and 4-4-2 became the standard for most teams for many years but now we have a confusing muddle of numbers, including 3-5-2, 4-2-2-2 and 4-1-4-1.  The panel examine how these changes in formations evolved and how successful they have been for the coaches, managers and clubs that have employed them.
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63. Cheating
vendredi 30 août 2024 ⹠Duration 48:00
We know that cheating isnât a new phenomenon. Â Itâs been in sport ever since the Greeks failed to provide any drug testing during the Olympic Games of 776 BC â so thereâs no reason why football should be any different. Â In the 1950s and 1960s, promising youngstersâ parents were allegedly bribed with washing machines and other âluxuryâ goods by clubs desperate for their offspringâs signature. Â The amounts of money sloshing around the game these days has made the incentive to cheat a constant threat, despite the tightening of legislation designed to prevent it. Â On the field, the diving for penalties and the feigning of injuries to get an opponent sent off has also got worse despite the increased ability of television cameras to highlight such cheating. Â The panel discuss whether cheating in football can ever be eradicated.
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54. Reserves
vendredi 10 mai 2024 âą Duration 37:59
There used to be such a thing as a Reserve team which we watched if we couldnât afford to travel to watch our team away from home. Young players started in the A and B sides and made their way up from the B to the A team until they reached the Reserves. The Reserves contained a sprinkling of first team players coming back from injury and embittered old pros who deeply resented the humiliation of playing in the Central League or the Football Combination. As such spectators got to see old favourites and possible new stars. But the Reserves are gone now, like our youth, too soon. Does the panel regret the passing of this old tradition or does its replacement by squads of 25 and endless substitutions during a match mean a better deal for football?
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53. The One With Jimmy Mulville
vendredi 3 mai 2024 âą Duration 44:24
Everton may well have saved themselves yet again from The Drop and at the same time finished Liverpoolâs chances of a last Premier League title for Jurgen Klopp but the history of a once proud and famous club over the last thirty years or so has been painful for their fans. Â One lifelong supporter is Jimmy Mulville, co-founder and manager of Hat Trick Productions and therefore responsible for shows such as Have I Got News For You and Father Ted. Â In this podcast he shares with the panel the agony and ecstasy of supporting Everton stretching back to the 1950s and including his visit with his father and grandfather to see the famous FA Cup Final win of 1966, a time when the City of Liverpool seemed to rule the cultural world.Â
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52. Mavericks
vendredi 26 avril 2024 âą Duration 43:53
In this episode, the panel is talking about the maverick.  Not the old tv series of the same name starring James Garner but the flair players who didnât necessarily fit into the team ethic.  Think Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Charlie George, Tony Currie and Rodney Marsh to name but five. How weird that they were all playing at the end of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s.  Why were there so many mavericks then? Were there none before and none since then?  The Brains Trust scratches its collective head and suggests some possible answers.
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51. 1974
vendredi 19 avril 2024 âą Duration 48:12
In the second of our occasional podcasts about specific years, we are looking at 1974 when Jon Holmes, Paddy Barclay and Colin Shindler were all in their early, mid or medium late 20s. Itâs the year that began with power shortages due to a minersâ strike and the imposition of the three day week. Inflation was running at nearly 18% and of course ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest. In football, Leeds won the League and Liverpool won the Cup after which both their managers left. Brian Clough lasted just 44 days as manager of Leeds United and Harold Wilson won two general elections in the same year but for Colin, the greatest moment of that momentous year was being at Old Trafford to watch Denis Law backheel Manchester United into the Second Division. What were your memories of 1974?
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50. The One With Delia
vendredi 12 avril 2024 âą Duration 40:25
For our 50th edition, weâve cooked up a very special episode â not only have we taken to the road (to the very farthest corner of East Anglia) but weâve sourced the author of the Complete Illustrated Cookery Course. Â The panel is extremely well fed for their trouble by one of the owners of Norwich City, who is the only football director to publish over 1400 mouth-watering recipes. Â For a thoroughly satisfying gluten free edition of Football Ruined My Life try the new improved Delia Smith episode. Â Hereâs one we made earlier with lots of delicious chocolate covered football chat.
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49. Centre Halves
vendredi 5 avril 2024 âą Duration 40:33
This is the episode about those big lads with heads squashed flat and brains curdled into early onset dementia by the constant heading of old fashioned leather footballs that weighed the same as a cannonball after it had been soaked by rain and coated in mud. Â From the time that Herbert Chapman withdrew the middle of the half backs to play between the two full backs we always recognised the centre half as the bulwark of the defence. Â Paddy Barclay, Jon Holmes and Colin Shindler discuss the way in which these immobile centre halves became more sophisticated until we got the emergence of the skilful and mobile central defender who can now attack and defend with equal facility.
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48. Our Second Postbag
vendredi 29 mars 2024 âą Duration 38:04
The Easter special podcast sees the Football Ruined My Life panel fielding another round of questions, observations and suggestions from their listeners. Listeners who are quick to seize their own chance to comment on yesterdayâs football and how it evokes such strong memories of their younger days as supporters. The letters are by turn critical, laudatory, amusing and perceptive. The panellists in turn are quick to proffer thanks to the writers, even those who take pleasure in correcting their fallible memories, and gratitude for their suggestions for future podcasts. Â
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47. The One With The Baron
vendredi 22 mars 2024 âą Duration 47:15
We are joined this week by Baron Grade of Yarmouth, previously Michael Grade, who has, at various times, been Controller of BBC1, Chairman of ITV and Chief Executive of Channel 4. Â However for all the company directorships and his elevation to the House of Lords we meet on equal footing as football fans because his admirably steadfast passion down the years has been for Charlton Athletic FC. Â Amongst a host of amusing and revealing anecdotes, he tells us about how he orchestrated the infamous Snatch of the Day when clever little ITV under his skilful guidance nipped the ball off the giant lumbering centre half that was the BBC. Â Itâs hard to imagine anyone better qualified than Michael to talk about football and television.
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