Libero

On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and Tariq Panja put the politics of the Club World Cup to one side and stick to the football. Specifically Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea, who can now call themselves world champions for the next four years. It has been a remarkable few months for Maresca and his team, and suddenly all of the doubts about his appointment, and indeed the whole Chelsea project, look like they have lost their sting. Maybe Todd Boehly and Clearlake know what they are doing after all? 

The second half of the show (37:24) focuses on Crystal Palace, who have been told by UEFA that they will not be allowed into the Europa League next season because of a breach of multi-club ownership rules. Tariq explains why this is one of the very few MCO cases that UEFA chooses to enforce, and why Palace fans are so furious about it.

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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Now that the Club World Cup is over, Libero’s Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss what Gianni Infantino’s great jamboree means for football: not just the Saudi money that (indirectly) bankrolled the tournament, but the impetus of American private equity that brought it to this point. Before that, though, they unpack the defining image of the tournament, and possibly all modern football: President Donald Trump making it very clear that he would be celebrating Chelsea’s victory on the podium, in front of the world. Is the whole thing going to be forgotten, as critics say of the football, or are we actually talking about “a transformative moment for the game”?

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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Jonathan Wilson and Miguel Delaney discuss with John Brewin a big week for Arsenal, and a fever dream featuring one of the Gunners’ potential new strikers. Is the pressure on Mikel Arteta or is that just a perception created by the myth of managers being capable of dragging a team over 'the line', whatever that is?

Also, (36:14) if Joe Root sat in the seat next to you in a pub, would you recognise the greatest living English cricketer? Or has football’s dominance dampened his legacy? Is Kevin Keegan still more famous than Harry Kane? 

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss the Club World Cup, where James saw the start of the tournament, with Rory now in New York to see its climax. They ask whether this is the future of football, or just a very clear view of its present.

Then conversation returns to last week’s question (27:05): what could threaten football’s dominant place in global culture? Could it be a threat from within football, with the game churning out so much content, or starting to fragment? Or are its threats coming from outside, whether from fast-adapting different sports (cricket or F1), or the technological threats to our attention spans?

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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This episode was recorded before the tragic news about the death of Diogo Jota and his brother.

Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and, eventually (18:41), James Horncastle try to get their heads around the sheer size of modern football. What happened to other sports? What special advantage does football have over everything else? And what is it about football that has allowed it to become the dominant cultural force in the modern world.

And with football now in such a powerful position in the media landscape, the natural next question is whether or not this is actually good for the game.

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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Can women’s football sustain its exponential growth? Have the men just had a sliding doors without knowing it? The Women’s Euro 2025 gets underway in Switzerland this week with England nursing both (relatively) high hopes and (comparatively) low expectations. Why have two key players withdrawn from the squad? Can England retain their crown? What will failing to do so mean for Sarina Wiegman? And, if tournaments are always a barometer for the game, what will this say about women's football?

Rory Smith, Miguel Delaney and John Brewin try to answer those questions while acknowledging that they are all men, or very close approximations of it. They also discuss England’s glorious win in the European Under-21 Championship (35:57), thanks to the great genius of anthem refusenik Lee Carsley - and whether the FA may have made a decision they end up regretting.

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tariq Panja and John Brewin ask the big question of the summer so far: who is John Textor? And what is going on with the ownership of Lyon and Crystal Palace? Lyon used to be one of Europe’s model clubs but now they are facing the prospect of relegation to Ligue 2. What does this tell us, not only about Textor, but about the multi-club model in general? Is there any upside at all in it for clubs.

There is one Textor club that is having a great summer, though, with Botafogo through to the last-16 of the Club World Cup. All four Brazilian teams, in fact, have progressed from the groups. (31:27) Why is Brazilian club football so strong again? And does that change how we feel about Gianni Infantino’s big party in the USA?

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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Another summer, another tournament enlivened by marauding hordes of Argentina fans taking over beaches and shopping centres. On today’s Libero, Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson discuss what it is that makes Argentinian football culture so passionate and so appealing to outsiders, whether we overlook the reality of it in favour of the romance, and whether its allure is really a measure of our anxiety over the sanitised, commercial world of European football. James Horncastle dials in, too, to offer his thoughts after experiencing the imported South American atmosphere in Miami, and we contemplate the impact of conflict in Iran on next year’s World Cup (50:05).

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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Here we go, right into transfer season, so Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson discuss how it all actually works from a media perspective, as well as how reporting on it has evolved into an entire industry of its own, an adjunct to the actual football. We also (38:06), aware of our own hypocrisy, discuss an actual big transfer: Florian Wirtz to Liverpool.

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Libero goes on location as James Horncastle reports from the Hard Rock Stadium after Boca Juniors v Benfica. Is our Italian stallion getting swept up by Gianni Infantino’s Club World Cup? Then, back across the Atlantic where John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja share their thoughts on the tourney so far, where they’re watching on a channel better known for serial killer documentaries. 

Then, at (24:36), they start the real quiz. Transfers, better than the football itself? The team considers the changing face of the recruitment game, from pushy parents to blue-chip, fully corporate agencies. Are the bad old days of third-party ownership coming back? Which clubs do things differently? Will a couple of high-profile legal cases turn things upside down?  

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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