In the first of our Media Watch podcast series, our two protagonists, the Morons, take you on a journey through 'Football Twitter' asking such profound questions as:

* What is football Twitter?

* Is Pep Guardiola in the wrong when he speaks out for Catalonia?

* Are West Ham fans SJWs or simply hooligans?

*Why are men still misogynist?

And much more besides!

Enjoy!

The concept is simple: two morons talk about football with little thought as to whether or not what they say is too stupid to be discussed.

Except we can't even do that properly - this week we're three morons talking about football fandom. Jon, Nico and Ceylon turn their collective attention to the question of the way that football is followed in modern society: 

The conversation takes them over many variegated topics:

* How does the way fans perceive of football being negative or positive affect the game itself?

* Does bias affect the way we watch the game and, subsequently, report on it?

* How do we make the world of football a more inclusive space for those who aren't comfortable within it?

* Are there right or wrong ways of supporting a club?

* What happens when your club is controlled by a company who pumps money into it?

* What is with those Twitter accounts called things like @RonaldoisGod?

All of this and more beside in this week's episode of Morons.

Enjoy!

The concept is simple: two morons talk about football with little thought as to whether or not what they say is too stupid to be discussed.

This week, Jon and Nico turn their collective attention to the question of the football media:

What is the point of the football media?

Do we in the football media even know what we are doing?

What can be done to make post-match interviews more interesting?

Why does anyone give a shit about transfer speculation?

Does the English media dominate the global conversation?

All of these questions and many more beside on this week's episode of Morons.

In 1965, the football writer Brian Glanville wrote an article about the state of British sports journalism. At the outset of the piece, he distinguished between two forms of sports journalism within the British context: the ‘more sensitive popular writer’ who ‘knows that almost every piece he writes is a self-betrayal, a selling out to the cruel machine which has produced him’ and ‘the quality writer’ who is ‘writing for an informed minority when, given the wide reference of his subject, he should be speaking to the generality’. ‘What is wholly lacking’, he writes, ‘is an idiom which will throw a bridge across the two cultures, avoiding, on the one hand, bathos, which is the nemesis of ‘good’ sports writing, and on the other stylised vulgarity, the nemesis of the popular school.’ Fifty years later and that bridge remains for the most part undiscovered: the British sports writer still finds themselves looking for an idiom.

In the course of this podcast series, we are going to join in this search for an idiom. Bringing together specialists from around the world, we will take on the topics that are often ignored about the way the game is thought about, spoken about and played. Be it the epistemology of scouting, the creation and preservation of narrative, or the shadow world of capital that underpins the global game, each episode will seek to bring to light some aspect of the beautiful game and raise it to the level of scrutiny.

In this episode, we’re talking about what it is that we, as fans, expect from football. Joining us on the show today is Kolby Kuwitzky. Kolby is, in theory, a writer. He should probably start doing that again. In the meantime, he mostly bakes cakes and tries to sound intelligent on Twitter. Having supported Arsenal since before they were available to watch on American television, he sometimes, in the darkest depths of their annual November swoons, wonders if those were not, in fact, the days.

In 1965, the football writer Brian Glanville wrote an article about the state of British sports journalism. At the outset of the piece, he distinguished between two forms of sports journalism within the British context: the ‘more sensitive popular writer’ who ‘knows that almost every piece he writes is a self-betrayal, a selling out to the cruel machine which has produced him’ and ‘the quality writer’ who is ‘writing for an informed minority when, given the wide reference of his subject, he should be speaking to the generality’. ‘What is wholly lacking’, he writes, ‘is an idiom which will throw a bridge across the two cultures, avoiding, on the one hand, bathos, which is the nemesis of ‘good’ sports writing, and on the other stylised vulgarity, the nemesis of the popular school.’ Fifty years later and that bridge remains for the most part undiscovered: the British sports writer still finds themselves looking for an idiom.

In the course of this podcast series, we are going to join in this search for an idiom. Bringing together specialists from around the world, we will take on the topics that are often ignored about the way the game is thought about, spoken about and played. Be it the epistemology of scouting, the creation and preservation of narrative, or the shadow world of capital that underpins the global game, each episode will seek to bring to light some aspect of the beautiful game and raise it to the level of scrutiny.

In this episode, we’re talking about the ideas of simplicity and complexity in football. Joining us on the show is Nico Morales. Nico is a freelance journalist and host of the Weekly Rondo podcast. His work has been featured on NBCSN and he currently writes the occasional piece for ESD analysis and his own medium. We’re also joined by Nathan Clark. Nathan is a Spurs fan, a tactics writer, a video analyst and occasional numbers dabbler.

In 1965, the football writer Brian Glanville wrote an article about the state of British sports journalism. At the outset of the piece, he distinguished between two forms of sports journalism within the British context: the ‘more sensitive popular writer’ who ‘knows that almost every piece he writes is a self-betrayal, a selling out to the cruel machine which has produced him’ and ‘the quality writer’ who is ‘writing for an informed minority when, given the wide reference of his subject, he should be speaking to the generality’. ‘What is wholly lacking’, he writes, ‘is an idiom which will throw a bridge across the two cultures, avoiding, on the one hand, bathos, which is the nemesis of ‘good’ sports writing, and on the other stylised vulgarity, the nemesis of the popular school.’ Fifty years later and that bridge remains for the most part undiscovered: the British sports writer still finds themselves looking for an idiom.

In the course of this podcast series, we are going to join in this search for an idiom. Bringing together specialists from around the world, we will take on the topics that are often ignored about the way the game is thought about, spoken about and played. Be it the epistemology of scouting, the creation and preservation of narrative, or the shadow world of capital that underpins the global game, each episode will seek to bring to light some aspect of the beautiful game and raise it to the level of scrutiny.

In this episode, we’re talking about how it is we should think about football. Joining us on the show is Archie Cornish. Archie is a student at the University of Oxford where he is writing a PhD on the concept of allegory in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen. He is also an Arsenal fan. Bringing these two aspects of his life together, we talk about how our ideas about football develop and whether or not thinking about football is even important.

In 1965, the football writer Brian Glanville wrote an article about the state of British sports journalism. At the outset of the piece, he distinguished between two forms of sports journalism within the British context: the ‘more sensitive popular writer’ who ‘knows that almost every piece he writes is a self-betrayal, a selling out to the cruel machine which has produced him’ and ‘the quality writer’ who is ‘writing for an informed minority when, given the wide reference of his subject, he should be speaking to the generality’. ‘What is wholly lacking’, he writes, ‘is an idiom which will throw a bridge across the two cultures, avoiding, on the one hand, bathos, which is the nemesis of ‘good’ sports writing, and on the other stylised vulgarity, the nemesis of the popular school.’ Fifty years later and that bridge remains for the most part undiscovered: the British sports writer still finds themselves looking for an idiom.

In the course of this podcast series, we are going to join in this search for an idiom. Bringing together specialists from around the world, we will take on the topics that are often ignored about the way the game is thought about, spoken about and played. Be it the epistemology of scouting, the creation and preservation of narrative, or the shadow world of capital that underpins the global game, each episode will seek to bring to light some aspect of the beautiful game and raise it to the level of scrutiny.

In this episode, we’re talking about the future of football biographies. Joining us on the show is Andrew Downie, author of Doctor Socrates, a biography about the footballer Socrates who went on to captain the famous Brazil side in 1982. Andrew was born in Scotland but has spent most of his life as a foreign correspondent in Mexico, Haiti and Brazil. He now writes about sport for Reuters news agency. We are also joined by Alex Stewart, a creative consultant for uMAXit football who produces tactics and stats pieces for them. He also writes regularly about Football Manager with Iain Macintosh, and has been published in The Guardian, The Blizzard, and on the BBC.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

It is a dark time for football podcasts… Although Mark Lawrenson has been destroyed, the mainstream media have driven the independent broadcasters from their online platforms and pursued them across the galaxy.

Evading the Guardian Football Weekly, a group of individuals claiming to be freedom fighters and led by James Richardson have established a new podcast which is basically exactly the same but which will bring in even more money for the mainstream media types.

Whilst it is not in our interest to reject this assumption, throughout the summer months, our heroes have continued with their weekly football podcast which answers the questions that no one is asking and certainly no one is paying for.

By slowly covering in depth all twenty teams in the Premier League, our little band of rebels have managed to capture a little corner of the football podcast market.

But now, with the Great Podcast War of 2017 entering its bitterest period of fighting, they have chosen once again to buck the trends of mainstream journalism and chart a potentially disastrous course… they have chosen to return to their in season format and risk ruining all the good work they have achieved.

Welcome to A Totally of John O’Sheas Season Two, a series which we are calling A New Hope…

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

It is a dark time for football podcasts… Although Mark Lawrenson has been destroyed, the mainstream media have driven the independent broadcasters from their online platforms and pursued them across the galaxy.

Evading the Guardian Football Weekly, a group of individuals claiming to be freedom fighters and led by James Richardson have established a new podcast which is basically exactly the same but which will bring in even more money for the mainstream media types.

Whilst it is not in our interest to reject this assumption, throughout the summer months, our heroes have continued with their weekly football podcast which answers the questions that no one is asking and certainly no one is paying for.

By slowly covering in depth all twenty teams in the Premier League, our little band of rebels have managed to capture a little corner of the football podcast market.

But now, with the Great Podcast War of 2017 entering its bitterest period of fighting, they have chosen once again to buck the trends of mainstream journalism and chart a potentially disastrous course… they have chosen to return to their in season format and risk ruining all the good work they have achieved.

Welcome to A Totally of John O’Sheas Season Two, a series which we are calling A New Hope…

It has become something of a received wisdom within the present day that the mainstream media exist as the pinnacle of what is possible in sports journalism. Whilst it is not in our interest to reject this assumption, here at A Team of John O’Sheas we believe that some of the most perceptive insight regarding the top teams in the country comes from the fans themselves. In the course of this podcast series, we will be bringing together some of the most influential fans from across the Premier League to give you the low-down on the teams that they watch week in, week out. We’ll look back over the season just gone, try to get a handle on the transfer activity that rumbles on through the summer months, and look forwards to the next season which, as always, seems to creep up on us with ever increasing speed.

In this episode, we’re heading up to the North East to the only remaining Premier League team in the area. With both Middlesbrough and Sunderland falling out of the division last season, Newcastle United passed them on the way back up having spend time doing penance in the Championship following a woeful season the year earlier. Despite managing to hold onto their manager, Rafael Benitez, Newcastle made harder work of the Championship than they might have liked, only topping the table as a result of Brighton failing to win on the final day: an achievement only made less impressive on the realisation that the club spent a massive £57 million in the summer transfer window before the season began. This summer, the Magpies’ spending antics have been somewhat more muted, with only a smattering of players brought in from markets around Europe. The question is: will this be enough for the club to make a solid return to the Premier League? Or will there be some yo-yoing before they get there?

Joining us on the show today is a well-known face in the world of Newcastle United fandom: Emil Franchi. A devoted Toon fan who has followed the club through thick and thin, he also writes for the fanzine “Black, White and Daft”. When he’s not following Newcastle, he works as a DJ for Rather Good Radio where he has developed a wonderful radio voice which breaks through on occasion in the course of this episode.