Football Ruined My Life

This week Colin Shindler and Jon Holmes talk to theauthor, Matt Eastley, about his book Brian Moore Saved Our Sundays – a slightly exaggerated title you might think but certainly no more than Manchester United Ruined My Life. In 1968 ITV reorganised its football transmissions to compete directly with the BBC and Match of the Day. In the 1970s ITV was particularly good at using its regional franchises in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and East Anglia to give viewers a second helping of recorded highlights on Sunday afternoons. And so the voices of Brian Moore and Gerald Sinstadt and Hugh Johns and Gerry Harrison became as familiar and highly welcome visitors in our living rooms as John Motson and Barry Davies. Matt Eastley thinks that ITV Football in the 1970s and 1980s was the Golden Age of televised football. Listen to the podcast to find out why.

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Since we received positive feedback after our first re-run episode with one of the three founder members of this podcast, Paddy Barclay, we thought you might like to hear again Paddy talking about derby matches. One of the pleasures of making a podcast that does not depend on its topicality is that we can reintroduce subjects which remain perennial debating points. Paddy was well placed to comment on the bitter
sectarian rivalry of Glasgow as Colin Shindler was on Manchester’s equally
intense but not as violent internal conflicts. Jon Holmes of course has to travel to Nottingham to find a local derby which strains credibility though not as much as Crystal Palace’s derby with Brighton at the far end of the A23.

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This week Colin Shindler and Jim White open the postbag which is predictably full of scorn for the owners and operating officers of Manchester City… but also includes some well written observations on the state of football and football supporting in this country. We have an intelligent audience, and the postbag reflects that intelligence with very
little of the emotion and bile that accompanies the game online and on radio phone ins. There are complaints too about the way we ignore the lower leagues and don’t give enough credit to the young players of today. And there’s a surprise guest appearance of FRML’s most consistent critic.

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In this episode Colin Shindler and Jon Holmes talk to the author Dave Tomlinson about his book Doing A Leeds. Even by the standards of traditional football chaos, what happened to Leeds United between 1996 and 2005 constituted a financial, football and psychological roller coaster. The Elland Road club ascended at breathtaking pace to the Champions League semi-finals and plunged almost immediately into a nightmare of bankruptcy, relegation and a fire sale of the outstanding players who had got them onto the top table of Premier League and European football. David O’Leary seemed to be the manager of the future, he and chairman Peter Ridsdale forming a winning team before the latter abruptly sacked the former and was then ejected from the board he had been running. Plenty for both panel and listeners to get stuck into – like a Norman Hunter tackle.

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Since we’ve had two weeks off from the Premier League (and the Championship) in order to wallow in beating up Croatia and the Czech Republic as well as losing (as is our tradition) to Spain, we thought you might like to hear again the familiar, engaging voice of Patrick Barclay who
took strong exception to Jon Holmes and Colin Shindler as they dismissed the Nations League as a sop to the demands of television and the financial greed of UEFA. Listen to Paddy as he berates the other two who are nostalgic for the old Home Internationals when England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland played with themselves. One side sees a desperation of the television companies and UEFA to ensure that no summer passes without an international tournament, leading to player burnout and spectator indifference. The other side sees a sensible arrangement that abolishes pointless friendlies, gives every match a purpose and ensures that the weaker sides play each other and are not just cannon fodder for the big boys.

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