Welcome to another episode of the Covering Liverpool: Tales From The Press Box podcast.

My latest guest is Paul Machin, Redmen TV co-founder, content creator, YouTuber, presenter, pundit, published author and plenty more besides.

Paul talks about how he swapped his job in a restaurant for a life in fan media, the launch of Redmen in 2010 and its growth into what it is today, a respected, authoritative and fun (yes, that still exists in football!) place for discussion on all things Liverpool.

He talks about the challenges he and Chris Pajak, his co-founder, faced, his interactions with Jürgen Klopp over a beer and the day a Champions League winner came and sat in his front room for a show. He even remembers the time he hired an open-top bus to drive around Liverpool celebrating a (fictitious) Premier League title win. Yes, it happened.

Thanks to Paul for his time (and for offering up his studio space to record!) and thanks to Tom Dutton for the production. What a legend Tom is, by the way. 

I hope you enjoy!

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Welcome to Episode 3 of the Covering Liverpool: Tales From The Press Box podcast.

And it’s a belter, this one. After the success of Episodes 1 & 2 with Paul Gorst and James Pearce, I thought I’d better up the ante and draft in somebody with a Champions League winners medal!

Jamie Carragher made more than 700 appearances for Liverpool as a player, but now he is just as known for his straight talking and in-depth analysis on Sky Sports, where his sharp eye, sharper tongue and his partnership with Gary Neville has made Monday Night Football an essential watch. 

In this episode, Jamie discusses that transition from playing into punditry, and why looking back he can see he was always destined for a career in the media. He reveals the advice he was given when taking the plunge, the initial struggles to strike the right balance (and get to grips with the technology!) and his constant battle to stay on top of new tactical trends in the game.

He lifts the lid on a few awkward encounters he’s had with players disappointed with his criticism - including a memorable one in Australia with Daniel Sturridge - and explains how he deals with the scrutiny, and the criticism, which comes with being a well-known TV personality. 

He also opens up on THAT talkSPORT phone-in with Adrian Durham, provides a fascinating insight into his weekend work routine, and reveals his all-time favourite MNF guest. I reckon you’ll be able to guess that one, to be honest! 

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it. Thanks to Jamie for being so generous with his time, and thanks to the guys at The Anfield Wrap, particularly Ash, for lending their space and expertise. It’s enormously appreciated.

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Welcome to Episode 2 of the Covering Liverpool: Tales From The Press Box podcast!

After the success of Episode 1 with Paul Gorst - you can listen to that here - I’ve another very special guest for you all today. 

James Pearce, Reds correspondent for The Athletic and my former colleague at the Liverpool ECHO, is with me to discuss his long and illustrious career in journalism, and his near two-decade stint on Liverpool duty.

We talk about his early forays into the industry, reporting on ‘El Classico’ - Bath City vs Chippenham Town - and travelling the breadth of the country in a dangerously-old Nissan Micra. 

We talk about his arrival at the ECHO, shortly after Istanbul in 2005, and his rise to the top job in 2011. We talk about his decision to join The Athletic in 2019 and the changes to his work/life balance since. And yes, we talk about social media, the trolls and the memes and that ‘Bad News Pearce’ tag. Even the delivery drivers in Liverpool know about that.

It’s a must-listen, even if I say so myself. I hope you enjoy.

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Welcome to the Covering Liverpool: Tales From The Press Box podcast.

A bit different, this, as rather than delve into current (Liverpool) affairs and debate transfers, tactics, team selections and the like, I wanted to bring you a little closer to the people whose job it is to tell you about all of those things. 

In short, I wanted to speak to people who, like me, cover the Reds for a living.

My first guest is someone I know well, and who holds one of the most prestigious and important roles - for me, anyway! - in football media. He’s the Liverpool FC Correspondent for the Liverpool ECHO, and one of the calmest and most level-headed reporters about. It is, of course, Paul Gorst.

So, in Episode One of the Covering Liverpool, Gorsty talks about his journalism journey, which started with a Sunday morning epiphany at the age of 13 and which has since taken him around the world with the Reds. 

He talks about those early days at the ECHO, chained to his desk and the endless cycle of the 12-8 shift, and about those first, tentative steps in the Anfield press box. I can relate to those stories, believe me!

We discuss social media scrutiny, the impossible job of covering the transfer window, that endless work/life balance quest, and of the huge difference it makes when Liverpool are actually good.

I found it to be a fascinating insight from one of life’s good guys, and I hope you will enjoy the chat as much as I did. Please let me know your thoughts - this is very much a work in progress - and if you have any suggestions regarding guests you’d like to see in the future, then I’d love to hear them too.

And hey, if audio podcasts are not your thing, then don’t worry. The full episode can be watched on the Covering Liverpool YouTube page. If you haven’t subscribed to that yet, then what have you been doing?! Get it sorted ;) 

As ever, your support is appreciated.

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