Football Ramble

This time around on Ramble Meets, Luke spends an hour with Paul Watson, author, traveller and football coach whose experiences have seen him set up a football league on the tiny Pacific island of Pohnpei, run a professional club in Mongolia, and also take responsibility for organising the CONIFA World Football Cup, a tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unrecognised by FIFA.

In this revealing interview, Paul recounts tales of a life less ordinary travelling around the world on his footballing mission, the characters he's met along the way, and what the future holds for his many projects.

To purchase Paul's book about his time in Micronesia (and we heartily recommend you do!), search for Up Pohnpei! in all good bookshops. 

***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!***

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

Welcome back to another episode fished out of The Football Ramble archives!

This time around: the torrid tales of Gigi Becali reach a dramatic end, Sven putting his name forward for every single management job and a Breakfast XI. Plus, there’s entries into the Dean Windass Hall of Fame for Peter Shilton, Mark Hateley, and Mark Hateley’s greedy haircut.

Oh, and a Geordie punched a horse…

Many thanks to infamous YouTuber Linford Grimes for their inspiration and help in compiling old content. We salute you.

Search ‘Football Ramble’ on social media to find us, and email us here: [email protected]

***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!***

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

You join us again in the time machine as we head back to the 2011/12 season! This time around, there is a truly fantastic array of jewels from the Ramble crown. We check in with Gigi Becali for the first time this series, hear of Jonathan Woodgate nutting a glass bottle in Ibiza and get our teeth into a Dog XI. Plus, the seminal work ‘If We Could Clone Ian Woan’.

All that plus Euro 2012 predictions, Bob Hippy and loads more! Bobby dazzler!

Many thanks to infamous YouTuber Linford Grimes for their inspiration and help in compiling old content. We salute you.

Search ‘Football Ramble’ on social media to find us, and email us here: [email protected]

***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!***

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

In the latest episode of Ramble Meets... Luke chats to author, journalist and expert in football tactics Michael Cox.

In this exclusive interview Michael talks about his journey into covering football first as a blogger and then as a journalist and broadcaster for some of the biggest outlets in sport, before writing and publishing his debut book on the history of Premier League tactics, The Mixer, in 2017. Tactical trends, legacies left by managers and the future of the game are subjects all covered in this enlightening and interesting chat with one of the most interesting thinkers in football media.

Michael's second book, a tactical history of European football from 1992 to the present, entitled Zonal Marking, is available now.

***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!*** 

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

Good day! You join us for some best bits of the 2010/11 season, where we arrive at a cornerstone of Ramble lore: Richard Keys & Andy Gray. We join them in Midlife Crisis Corner on MNF to see if they can work their way around the interactive screen and discern if penalties are now easier. Richard.

Elsewhere there’s a Fulhamish tale from Craven Cottage about mum’s relaxation day, smooth moves from Robbie ‘The Pale Murderer’ Keane and an update from Diego Corner. The first of many, we assume.

Many thanks to infamous YouTuber Linford Grimes for their inspiration and help in compiling old content. We salute you.

Search ‘Football Ramble’ on social media to find us, and email us here: [email protected]

***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!***

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

The rumours are true! To celebrate another season of the Football Ramble coming to a close, we’re digging deep into the archives at Ramble HQ to bring you ten Best Of episodes, featuring some vintage Ramble moments. It’ll keep you going over summer before we return with new shows in July, and daily episodes from 5th August.

First up: 2009/10, featuring some early Ramble classics. Ever wondered what Yang Changpeng is up to? Or how Peter Beagrie ended up putting a motorbike through a plate glass window? Or what happens when a teacher plays the Ramble to their Scottish classroom? Well here are your answers.

Many thanks to infamous YouTuber Linford Grimes for their inspiration and help in compiling old content. We salute you.

Search ‘Football Ramble’ on social media to find us, and email us here: [email protected]

***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!***

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

Put simply, Danny Kelly is a broadcasting legend. Now found most regularly on talkSPORT presenting Kick Off, The Season Ticket and wherever else his prodigious talents are needed, he has over 30 years in the media game, including stints editing the NME, Q Magazine, and of course covering sport consistently across TV and radio.

In this latest episode of Ramble Meets, expect hilarious stories and tangents aplenty as Danny talks to Luke about how he fell in love with football in the first place, his most memorable moments in several decades covering the game, and what he thinks of the current state of the world's most popular sport. 

This episode of Ramble Meets was recorded on Friday 26th April 2019.

***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!***

This episode is sponsored by bet365

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

Another glorious summer for England as the men win a high pressure penalty shootout and the women get one over on Scotland. Portugal are the deserved winners of the inaugural UEFA Nations League and the whole thing turned out to be a lot of fun.

As well as casting our eyes over all this we chat dings and dongs, look at the predictions we made at the start of the season and give the final word to our beloved Newcastle United. 

Thanks for spending your time with us this season, we’re back on the 18th of July but have some compilations for you to enjoy until then, and listen out for a big announcement regarding next season! 

Search ‘Football Ramble’ on social media to find us, and email us here: [email protected]

***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!*** 

Further reading: 

Gareth Southgate is still pleased with where England are heading:

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/england-vs-switzerland-result-uefa-nations-league-2019-gareth-southgate-a8951356.html

Another trophy in the cabinet for Cristiano Ronaldo:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48191922

England’s medals were presented in an unusual way:

https://www.aol.co.uk/sport/2019/06/09/southgate-bemused-as-england-are-lobbed-nations-league-medals/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAK8otryaTjyRGkbU-w3mXWAz5nRcwum97KAYADAnZDaYfg4Gsr9h3suVJgoo5vqfd1SHQ3Rj1IceN-5e_PWLI_KxPBI5a1go8kw3A95wuBvMNZHp04E9puH0rVmorYiyKmvB2Sc_Zx1v-Q4O9z5CEr_foO6BjlwpsX-tURDsv7qe

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

England successfully qualify for the UEFA Nations League third place play-off, and have their eyes on the bronze! They couldn’t quite get past the Netherlands in the semi-final but who cares about minor details like that?

We also discuss the wonderful news about the world’s most adorable footballer, Santi Cazorla, the mercifully quick resolution of the Eden Hazard-to-Real Madrid saga, more birthday wronguns, and a come-and-get-me plea from El Diego.

This show is sponsored by bet365.

Search ‘Football Ramble’ on social media to find us, and email us here: [email protected]

***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!***

Further reading:

Gareth Southgate will stick to his guns:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48550951

An eye-witness account of some of England’s embarrassing fans:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/05/england-fans-baton-charged-portugese-police-nations-league-porto

Diego Maradona fancies the Man United job:

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/diego-maradona-manchester-united-manager-paul-pogba

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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

Andy Brassell is one of the world's most knowledgeable and entertaining pundits, whose passion for football has taken him all around the world when covering the game. He can be read regularly in the Guardian, and heard on talkSPORT, as well as The Football Ramble's sister shows On The Continent and At The Match.

Here, in the latest episode of Ramble Meets, he talks in-depth to Luke about his career path so far, including his journey into football punditry and how much he owes to Tim Vickery, what it's like being on friendly terms with Cristiano Ronaldo, and the most scared he's been when covering a game.

This episode of Ramble Meets... is sponsored by bet365

***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!***

The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Choose the Ramble vs everyone else.

Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League and Champions League season, covering Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Spurs. 

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