Hillsborough III, with Andrew Knott
On the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, we conclude our conversations by talking to Andrew Knott, the man behind the Anfield crowd mosaics. Andrew takes us through his experiences as one of those who made it onto the pitch from the Leppings Lane terraces, where he would help ferry stricken supporters from the scene on makeshift stretchers, exposed as he was to some of the worst im...
46m Apr 15, 2024
46m
Hillsborough II, with Peter Scarfe
On the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, we continue our personal reflections as Peter Scarfe speaks about his experiences on the terraces at Leppings Lane on 15 April 1989. Peter, the co-creator and chair of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA) also talks about the invaluable work that the HSA undertakes, and the lasting effects the disaster wrought on those who were ...
50m Apr 15, 2024
50m
Hillsborough I, with Dr Anne Eyre
On the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, we talk to Dr Anne Eyre, a sociologist specialising in the psychosocial aspects of major incidents, emergency planning and disaster management, who was on the Leppings Lane terraces on 15 April 1989. An open and candid conversation, Anne kindly tells us not only of her experiences and the effects they have left her with, but also the positiv...
42m Apr 15, 2024
42m
A decade of 80s football: favourite players and games
And now, the end is near, and so they face an impossibly difficult Question of Sport blowout to decide the Quiz Champion of the 1980s. Before that, our intrepid panellists choose their favourite games and players of the decade, reflect back on what the decade meant to them and, scandalously, refuse to indulge in some community singing of the B-side of the 1982 England World Cup single. Your ear...
2hr 22m Apr 07, 2024
2hr 22m
The Mount Rushmore Debates: 1980s
Following on from our series on the 1980s, we’ve one final visit to the decade as Chris Lepkowski, Aidan Williams and Stu Horsfield offer their choice of the goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker and manager who should be chiselled onto the decade’s Mount Rushmore. Gary Thacker attempts to retain some semblance of order.
1hr 29m Mar 29, 2024
1hr 29m
FA Cup giant-killers: Leicester vs Wycombe, 2001
A striker unearthed at lastminute.com, Robbie Savage writhing in agony, the winning manager watching the last few minutes of the game on TV in a cupboard, all human life is here in this FA Cup quarter-final at Filbert Street as Leicester, fourth in the Premier League, succumbed to third tier Wycombe. Helping guide the regular team through the carnage is Gary Silke, co-author of the Got Not Got...
42m Mar 21, 2024
42m
Inside The Hermit Kingdom: football stories from Stalinist Albania
Phil Harrison joins us in the Centre Circle to talk us through some shadowy tales of footballing life in Albania, all captured in his excellent new book, Inside The Hermit Kingdom.
1hr 29m Mar 18, 2024
1hr 29m
A decade of 80s football: 1988/89
And so the 1980s odyssey ends with a tumultuous season. We pay our respects to the Hillsborough disaster, with further podcasts to come on that subject, but this ONE concentrates on the football. Liverpool come through the tragedy to beat Everton in the FA Cup final, but a second double of the decade eludes them when it’s all up for grabs in one final game at Anfield AS Arsenal snatch the title...
2hr 19m Mar 14, 2024
2hr 19m
FA Cup giant-killers: Burnley vs Lincoln City, 2017
We move into the 21st century with this tie, and find that it was easier to remember the 1970s. Nonetheless, rediscovering the day that Conference side Lincoln City went to Turf Moor and upset Sean Dyche and his Burnley team is a joy - unless you’re a Burnley fan. A year when the Cowleys burst onto the national scene as a management team, setting down the foundations that have since seen Linco...
47m Mar 11, 2024
47m
A decade of 80s football: 1987/88
After surrendering their title to Everton, Liverpool come storming back, fuelled by John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge. A second league and cup double in three years seems inevitable but at Wembley, Dave Beasant saves a penalty and Wimbledon carry off the FA Cup after just 11 seasons in the Football League. Elsewhere, Luton  stun Arsenal with a late comeback to win the League Cup, ...
2hr 17m Mar 11, 2024
2hr 17m
A decade of 80s football: 1986/87
1986/87: in the Mersey Wars trilogy, we’re up to Everton Strike Back as Howard Kendall’s side regain the league title. Keith Houchen ensures he will be forever frozen in time with that diving header in the FA Cup final as Coventry win the trophy and disappoint a Spurs side that promise so much but end up empty handed, despite Clive Allen’s 49 goals. In Scotland, Graeme Souness starts his Ranger...
2hr 17m Mar 03, 2024
2hr 17m
Remembering Stan Bowles
The team mark the sad passing of Stan Bowles with a tribute to the man who illuminated Loftus Road, fell out with Malcolm Allison and Brian Clough, and who should surely have won more than just five England caps. A wonderful maverick.
49m Feb 28, 2024
49m
A decade of 80s football: 1985/86
A season that began in the shadow of Bradford and Heysel, with a blackout of TV coverage and the implications of the European ban, 1985/86 emerged as a campaign full of highlights. In the title race, Manchester United started like a train and ended like a rag and bone cart, West Ham couldn’t quite come through on the rails, Everton long looked like champions, but, in the end, it was Liverpool w...
2hr 22m Feb 22, 2024
2hr 22m
Seasons in the Sun: Bradford 2012/13
Wrexham might have their own TV show, but the greatest League Two season of the 21st century surely belongs to Bradford City. The 2012/13 campaign saw them make two visits to Wembley, becoming the first fourth tier team to play there in one of the senior cup competitions, before returning to do battle in the playoffs. It’s a ripping yarn that would make Barnstoneworth United proud, and City Ge...
1hr 30m Feb 18, 2024
1hr 30m
A decade of 80s football: Heysel
With football still reeling from the tragedy of the Bradford fire at Valley Parade, just 18 days later, on 29 May 1985, came the Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus. Some 39 people, mostly Juventus fans, were killed and around 600 injured when a wall collapsed. Liverpool supporter Chris Rowland was there, and he later wrote his own account of those ...
55m Feb 16, 2024
55m
O Jogo Bonito: the story of Brazil 1970
Join us in the Centre Circle as we talk to author Gary Thacker about his latest book, O Jogo Bonito, focusing on the great Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup. It’s a glorious tale of the events that led to the competition, the triumph itself, and what happened afterwards.
1hr 53m Feb 11, 2024
1hr 53m
A decade of 80s football: the Bradford fire
11 May 1985, Bradford v Lincoln. It should have been one of the most joyous days in the history of Bradford City, as they celebrated winning the Third Division at a canter. Instead, a fire in the Main Stand turned it into a day of tragedy, with 56 spectators  killed and at least 265 injured. Mike Harrison, editor of the legendary City Gent fanzine, was at that game and he joins Steven Scragg to...
1hr 4m Feb 08, 2024
1hr 4m
FA Cup giant-killers: Stoke vs Blythe Spartans, 1978
With England beleaguered by the wintry weather, non-league Blyth Spartans made two abortive trips to Stoke's Victoria Ground to get their FA Cup game played. Eventually, it was third time lucky as the collection of coalminers, sales reps and schoolteachers sprung one of the competition’s greatest ever shocks. Let Steven Scragg, Bill Hern and Dave Bowler take you back to the days when FA Cup ti...
50m Feb 05, 2024
50m
A decade of 80s football: 1984/85
A season of agony and ecstasy with tragedies unfolding at Bradford and Heysel, both the subjects of separate podcasts in this series. We concentrate on the on-pitch issues in this one, Howard Kendall’s Everton emerging to take Liverpool’s crown from them, winning the Cup Winners’ Cup too and coming within a whisker of becoming the 20th century’s third double winners, beaten in the FA Cup final ...
1hr 53m Feb 01, 2024
1hr 53m
A Jürgen Klopp special
With the announcement of Jürgen Klopp’s impending departure from Liverpool at season’s end, this week’s podcast concentrates on the job he’s done at Anfield, the moments that will live long in the memory, and the legacy that he will leave.
1hr Jan 28, 2024
1hr
A decade of 80s football: 1983/84
The midway point in our series, and not much changes as Liverpool win a third straight First Division title and a fourth League Cup in a row. But a new, blue presence is emerging at the bottom of Stanley Park with Everton reaching Wembley twice and carrying off the FA Cup, a portent of what is to come. Spurs win the UEFA Cup before Keith Burkinshaw walks out on them having had a visitation fro...
2hr 11m Jan 25, 2024
2hr 11m
FA Cup giant-killers: Hereford vs Newcastle, 1972
The greatest FA Cup game of all time according to many, Hereford’s third-round replay win over Newcastle in 1972 helped build the iconography of the FA Cup in the television era. Locked out fans climbing trees and floodlit pylons to watch, kids sitting behind the goal on hay bales, the pitch invaded three times by a tribe of snorkel parka wearers, Malcolm MacDonald missing sitters and that goal...
57m Jan 23, 2024
57m
The open veins of South American football
In the past, the European powers mercilessly exploited South America for its raw materials, making them wealthier and locking the indigenous people of the continent into poverty. Is there a similar trend developing with ever younger players being taken away from South America to the rich clubs of Europe?
1hr 21m Jan 22, 2024
1hr 21m
A decade of 80s football: 1982/83
As Ron Atkinson would have doubtless said, it was a case of déjà vu all over again in 1982/83, with Liverpool romping to the league title and retaining the League Cup. But there was change elsewhere, with Tottenham’s iron grip on the FA Cup finally released, Big Ron  getting his hands on a trophy, much to the delight of Gerald Ratner. Graham Taylor’s Watford blitzkrieged their way to second pla...
1hr 59m Jan 18, 2024
1hr 59m
Grim days at Reading, better days at Coventry, and the Mbappé saga
The podcast rules over the grim goings-on at Reading, better days for Coventry , an attempt to work out where Kylian Mbappé will be hanging his hat this summer, and plenty more.
58m Jan 14, 2024
58m
A decade of 80s football: 1981/82
According to Steven Scragg, Stu Horsfield and Aidan Williams, this is the "Stingray" season – anything can happen in the next nine months. Ron Saunders walks out on Aston Villa, joins Birmingham  and misses out on lifting the European Cup. Spurs win the FA Cup in a year not ending in 1. Swansea's rapid ascent from Division Four now sees them topping the First Division. But, obviously, Liverpool...
2hr 5m Jan 12, 2024
2hr 5m
Twilight of the Gods: Remembering Zagallo x Beckenbauer
Following the sad passing of Franz Beckenbauer and Mário Zagallo, Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler assess the legacy of football’s greatest names, men whose place in the World Cup pantheon will be forever secure.
47m Jan 09, 2024
47m
A decade of 80s football: 1980/81
Was 1980/81 really the final year of the 1970s, the decade when the level playing field threw up all kinds of title winners? With Aston Villa taking the First Division and Ipswich in hot pursuit, it certainly feels like it.
2hr 2m Jan 04, 2024
2hr 2m
A decade of 80s football: 1979/80
Following our trawl through the 1970s, the team return with a new series focusing on the 80s. First under the microscope is the 1979/80 campaign. Steven Scragg, Aidan Williams and Stu Horsfield, fuelled by vast intakes of fizzy pop and smoky bacon crisps, recall a year when Liverpool won Division One, Arsenal missed out on everything, Alex Ferguson won his first league title, and Nottingham For...
2hr 11m Dec 31, 2023
2hr 11m
So here it is ... the ghosts of football past, present and future
Ebeneezer Thacker, Jacob Scragg and Tiny Tim Fletcher are at the helm of this special christmas podcast where they encounter the ghosts of football past, present and future. Will their lives be changed for the better by these visitations, or will those pesky kids at FIFA ruin everything as usual?
1hr 16m Dec 19, 2023
1hr 16m
The Mount Rushmore Debates: The European Cup
We venture into the early days of European football in this Mount Rushmore debate as we look to find the greatest names from the European Cup, prior to seeing them hewn into the mountain face. Aidan Williams, Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler put the case for the icons of the European Cup in its pre-Champions League form, while Gary Thacker has the final say on the goalkeeper, defender, midfielder,...
1hr 20m Dec 09, 2023
1hr 20m
A tribute to Terry Venables and Everton's 10-point deduction
Following the sad death of Terry Venables last week, we take an in-depth look at his playing and coaching career and the legacy he has left behind. And there’s also time to look at the ten-point penalty imposed on Everton by the Premier League.
1hr 51m Dec 02, 2023
1hr 51m
Fantastic disappointment: the story of Spurs in 1986/87
It’s a Centre Circle/Seasons in the Sun mash-up as Stephen Peace joins Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler to discuss his book on Tottenham’s memorable 1986/87 campaign. There are goals, near-misses and grief aplenty amid its pages, and we’re covering them all here.
1hr 29m Nov 22, 2023
1hr 29m
Seasons in the Sun: Sunderland 1972/73
Seasons in the Sunderland it is for this episode as we relive the glories of Sunderland’s FA Cup run in 1972/73 that took them all to the way to the holy grail itself. The mighty Bill Hern returns to talk us through the season of his supporting life with Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler listening on in awe.
1hr 6m Nov 16, 2023
1hr 6m
The sack race, the Copa Libertadores final, Kane, Hayes and more
Will Erik ten Haag win the sack race? Why does the Copa Libertadores final look so much more spectacular than its Champions League equivalent? How many goals will Harry Kane score this season? Should England follow Scotland’s lead and get the League Cup done and dusted by Christmas? How will Chelsea and the WSL fare without Emma Hayes? Rob Fletcher, Aidan Williams and Dave Bowler tackle the big...
1hr 36m Nov 06, 2023
1hr 36m
Get It On: how the 70s rocked football
We’re back in the Centre Circle to discuss Jon Spurling’s excellent book on 1970s football, the decade that These Football Times won’t let go. Steven Scragg, Dr David Turner and Dave Bowler talk to Jon about the thinking behind the book, some of its major themes and just what football from 50 years ago tells us about the game today.
1hr 29m Nov 02, 2023
1hr 29m
Rooney, Carrick and the state of play in the Championship
As the clocks go back and we head into the long, dark nights ahead, it’s time for the early season report card on the Championship, with particular reference to Wayne Rooney being parachuted into Birmingham, while his former Manchester United colleague Michael Carrick gets Middlesbrough firing on all cylinders again. There’s also time for the team to take a quick look at some surprising relegat...
1hr 32m Oct 31, 2023
1hr 32m
Football’s Black Pioneers, Episode 5: Dave Busby
Wrapping up our series on football’s black pioneers that has run across Black History Month this year, we are again joined by our wise spirit guides, David Gleave and Bill Hern, authors of the book Football’s Black Pioneers. Our final guest for the series is Dave Busby, the first black player at both Brighton and Barrow and, as you’ll hear, a raconteur par excellence.
1hr 14m Oct 29, 2023
1hr 14m
A tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton
The passing of Sir Bobby Charlton has robbed us of perhaps England’s greatest ever footballer, and certainly its finest sportsman and ambassador. John Dunn and Dave Bowler pay tribute to the great man.
35m Oct 23, 2023
35m
Football’s Black Pioneers, Episode 4: Windrush
The huge contribution of the Windrush generation towards every aspect of life in the UK has been well documented - if not by the Home Office – and their impact on our football forms the basis of the fourth episode of this series. As well as our regular expert voices Bill Hern and David Gleave, this time we are joined by Brenton Phillips, a child if Windrush parents, who speaks fascinatingly of ...
1hr 21m Oct 22, 2023
1hr 21m
Seasons in the Sun: Manchester United 2007/08
Seasons In The Sun sees a guest bringing one campaign from their supporting life to the dissection table. In this episode, Alex Ireland talks about Manchester United’s epic 2007/08 campaign that culminated in Premier League and Champions League glory. Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler wield the scalpels.
1hr 13m Oct 18, 2023
1hr 13m
Football’s Black Pioneers. Episode 3: Barbados
The contribution of Barbados to English football falls under the spotlight in the third episode of our series marking Black History Month. Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler are again joined by Bill Hern and David Gleave, authors of Football’s Black Pioneers, along with special guest Roland Butcher. Roland might be better known as England’s first black cricketer but he was also Stevenage’s first bla...
1hr 8m Oct 14, 2023
1hr 8m
The Mount Rushmore Debates: the 1970s
Following on from our series on the 1970s, we’ve one final visit to the decade as Steven Scragg, Dr David Turner and Dave Bowler offer their choice of the goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker and manager who should be chiselled onto the decade’s Mount Rushmore. Lord Chief Justice Gary Thacker presides over the court.
1hr 17m Oct 12, 2023
1hr 17m
FIFA, VAR, UEFA and other acronyms …
Tackling this week’s thorny topics, Gary Thacker, Aidan Williams and Paul Mc Parlan run the rule over FIFA’s future World Cup plans, the coming of a UK & Ireland Euros, the FA Cup’s final qualifying round and plenty more, including a tribute to international football’s longest serving warrior, Ildefons Lima Solà of Andorra.
1hr 17m Oct 10, 2023
1hr 17m
Football’s Black Pioneers. Episode 2: Jamaica
In the second episode of a special series marking Black History Month, Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler are again joined by Bill Hern and David Gleave, authors of Football’s Black Pioneers, along with special guest Matt Tiller. Matt was the founder of the Jack Leslie campaign and has produced a biography of the great man. As well as talking about Jack, there’s plenty of discussion of Lindy Delaphe...
1hr 23m Oct 08, 2023
1hr 23m
The Eastern European Chronicles
Not one but two new These Football Times magazines are out, both centred on the wonderful, intriguing world of football from Eastern Europe. From the Hungarians of 1954 to the Croatians of ’98, through the romance of Dinamo Tblisi to the majesty and pragmatism of Red Star (and a whole lot more besides), Aidan Williams, Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler take a flick through the magazines’ sumptuous ...
1hr 40m Oct 05, 2023
1hr 40m
VAR (again!), a 13-year-old debutant and Friday morning J League
Another glorious weekend for VAR comes under the microscope but Rob Fletcher, Steven Scragg and Matthew Gibbs also cast the net further afield, taking in 13-year-old debutant, the plight of Sheffield Wednesday, Scunthorpe and Reading, and a Friday morning YouTube addiction for following the twists and turns of the J League.
1hr 9m Oct 03, 2023
1hr 9m
Football’s Black Pioneers, Episode 1: Africa
In the first of a new series for Black History Month, Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler talk to Bill Hern and David Gleave, authors of Football’s Black Pioneers about the role of black footballers in the English and the wider game, their successes and their struggles. In the first episode, we look at players from Africa.
1hr 14m Sep 30, 2023
1hr 14m
The Mount Rushmore Debates: The Euros
The European Championship is the playing field for the Mount Rushmore debate this time around as Aidan Williams, Steven Scragg and Dave Bowler argue for their choices to be immortalised on the rockface. Gary Thacker sits in judgement on the goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker and manager that best represents the history of the competition.
1hr Sep 26, 2023
1hr
Questions from around the English game ...
Will Manchester City become the first club to win four top flight titles in a row in English football history? Is Leicester's promotion to the Premier League a foregone conclusion? Will Harry Kane’s Bavarian adventure ignite a run to the European Championship title for England? Why is the League Cup so maligned? These questions and more are answered – possibly incorrectly – by Rob Fletcher, Joh...
1hr 13m Sep 25, 2023
1hr 13m