Billions of pounds exchange hands during transfer windows, but there is never a guarantee that a mega-money signing will adjust at his new club regardless of how pedigreed he is as a player. 

Moves in the market have always been viewed through the prism of the deal itself: who is the target, when will it be agreed, how much for and how long for? 

But on this episode of Between The Lines, we delve into what can help make transfers successful: player welfare. 

If you've ever wondered how some footballers hit the ground running at their new clubs or why talented ones flop, a lot of the answers are provided by our three guest experts: a head of recruitment, an agent and one of the pioneers of player welfare in the country.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!***

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The man in charge of Belgium’s golden generation is the final guest of 2020 on Between The Lines in one of the most engaging, enlightening and wide-ranging interviews around.

The Spaniard shares his expansive experience in football with us: from navigating English football’s lower leagues as a foreign player while studying for two degrees, establishing a legacy at Swansea, surviving and succumbing to relegation with Wigan, the best and loneliest of times at Everton to taking on one of the most exciting jobs in the game.

Roberto talks about the importance of players getting an education, reveals why homeschooling his young daughters is harder than finishing third at the 2018 World Cup, stresses the need to protect the English pyramid and calls for greater emphasis on welfare in football.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raúl Jiménez suffering a fractured skull brought football’s negligence of head injury prevention and care back into the spotlight. But, as we explore on today’s episode of Between The Lines, the game has long been aware of the research on the long-term effects of such trauma and the solutions to minimise its risk. It has chosen to press on with shoddy protocols and the only update it has offered - the trial of a permanent concussion - is unhelpful and a distance behind other sport.

Ryan Mason, who was forced to retire after a similar injury aged just 26, joins us to discuss how traumatic the experience was for him and his family. He is pushing for changes along with Dr Willie Stewart, the neuropathologist who proved football’s link with dementia and spells out just how serious the problem is. In tandem with our other guests, the pair spotlight why head trauma can be a matter of life or death and how football can help make the game safer for players.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Lallana has morphed into a guiding light for young footballers, whose development both as players and people he is so keen to help along. But in this episode of Between The Lines, we travel back to his pre-teen years when he was starting out at Southampton's academy to understand what has shaped him as a footballer. 

The midfielder talks us through his battles with an irregular heartbeat and ulcerative colitis, the feeling of being in the way when you're injured as well as the increasing demands at the elite level now. 

From the age of 12 to the current point in his life, happily playing regularly for Brighton, Lallana charts his career and shares lessons he learnt from Mauricio Pochettino and Jürgen Klopp, while relating why setbacks have shaped all his successes.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Melissa Reddy and a selection of esteemed experts for a brand new episode of Between The Lines, as we unpack one of the most important, yet largely unexplored topics in football: the prejudiced policing of the game’s fans.

If you go to a match in the UK, you are seen as a public disorder threat before being viewed as a person. A lot of the legislation governing football policing is bad, outdated and rushed, rooted more in the 1980s than the reality of going to a stadium in 2020. From how easy it is to be hit with a banning order to explaining why you can drink at music concerts, the cricket, rugby or other mass events but not in view of a football pitch, our leading panellists pull back the curtain on a great ill of English football.

We speak to former police superintendent Owen West, researcher Geoff Pearson and the Football Supporters’ Association’s Amanda Jacks about all the issues with the way the national sport is policed and how we can all help force change.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

His journey from England goalscoring extraordinaire to one of TV's most esteemed presenters has made him a household name - but how well do you know the real Gary Lineker? We're joined by the man at the forefront of televised football on today's episode of Between The Lines!

From trading goals and some of the biggest individual accolades in the game to bossing the coverage of it on our screens, that’s still not enough for a man who has chosen to use his gigantic platform to publicise humanitarian issues. Oh - and he’s a great cook too! Gary sits down with Melissa for an in-depth chat about life post-football, his entry into presenting and his thoughts on the current political and social challenges this country is facing.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Melissa Reddy for a brand new episode of Between The Lines, as we welcome a man who has scored more than a century of goals and remains one of the finest English strikers of his generation: former Liverpool, Chelsea and England forward, Daniel Sturridge!

Daniel joins Melissa to look back over a storied career where he has forged a unique path, on and off the pitch. From scoring in European finals to starting a record label, we hear how Daniel has dealt with the undue pressure placed on footballers with interests away from the game. He also talks us through his troubles with injuries, staying in shape during his break from the game and what he can still bring to clubs looking for an elite striker with plenty to offer. 

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of Between The Lines, we delve into the toxic, often harrowing world of social media abuse in football. From racism suffered by many of English football’s black players to the sexism directed at females working in the game, Melissa is joined by a host of informed voices to explore how these manifest online and what we can do to eradicate it.

These include former-player-turned-pundit Alex Scott, who shares her personal experience with online hate speech, as well as media lawyer Matt Himsworth, the PFA’s Jason Lee and researcher Bertie Vidgen. Each guest helps answer the questions we have about social media abuse: why aren’t the platforms doing more to guard against it, are accounts truly anonymous, how do you successfully take trolls to court and what can we do to create a healthier online experience?

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the first episode of Between The Lines with Melissa Reddy, a new podcast bringing you unrivalled insight and fascinating stories from some of the biggest names in football. Today, Melissa is joined by former Tottenham, Southampton and Espanyol manager Mauricio Pochettino and his trusted assistant, Jesus Perez. 

The pair discuss how their professional and personal lives have changed since leaving Spurs, reveal the important factors they'll consider when choosing their next club, and underline why a human touch is central to their approach. Mauricio and Jesus also share their reaction to watching Spurs' new All Or Nothing documentary, and their surprise at only featuring in the first 25 minutes of episode one!

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between The Lines is a podcast that talks to the biggest names to discuss the subjects most interesting to fans including the behind the scenes insight that underpins everything across the top of the game.

From Premier League managers attempting to coach their team while dealing with personal tragedy, to the thorny subject of online abuse and trolls, and from world-class footballers pursuing other interests away from the game, or attempting to bounce back from career-threatening injury, listeners will learn something new in every episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.