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Welcome to a new mini series on the Big Interview feed, retreading Spain's journey to their only World Cup title, 10 years ago.

In this first episode, before the tournament begins, we'll look at the player who will eventually give the 2010 World Cup in South Africa it's signature moment, Andrés Iniesta.

As the countdown to the finals intensifies, Iniesta is broken: physically, mentally and spritually. The extent of his depression and his despair at the death of a close friend and his own physical frailty was unclear back in 2010. What we know now is that the man who will win the World Cup for Spain could very easily have been left at home.

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Welcome to a new episode of Between the Lines. This is Martin's conversation with award-winning sportswriter Ian Ridley. If you listened to last week’s episode you will have heard Ian discuss his excellent book Floodlit Dreams.

This conversation is about Addicted, Tony Adams’ groundbreaking autobiography, first published in 1998. Ian ghostwrote the book with Tony and breaks down that process in impressive detail.

The book is a brutally honest account of Tony’s descent into alcoholism, his spell in prison and subsequent recovery with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Addicted was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, and it is no wonder. The book is on most lists of the best football books of all-time and had a huge impact on popular culture in the late nineties.

Enjoy.

Check out Floodlit Dreams

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When Brendan Rodgers took the Celtic job he was advised to jettison Scott Brown. Instead, Brendan invited him to his London home where they chatted about what behaviour he expected from a captain, and also how he could incorporate ‘Broonie’ in a different role. Despite the relatively advanced stage in his career, Scott transformed his attitude and style of play, and coach and skipper lifted trophy after trophy in Glasgow.

When Brendan took over at Leicester, he again forged a crucial relationship with the incumbent captain, Wes Morgan, and there’s great stuff about Leicester and England talents James Maddison and Ben Chilwell. Brendan also reflects on why Philippe Coutinho was adored at Liverpool but failed to hit the ground running at Barcelona.

Finally, there’s a moving testament on how Brendan considers himself duty-bound to help preserve the legacy and vision of beloved Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died in such tragic circumstances in 2018.

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Brendan Rodgers possesses one of the sharpest analytical minds in football, but more than that he is a purist, a devotee of the beautiful game– as demonstrated by the verve with which his high-flying Leicester side plays.

As a rookie coach, Brendan had the foresight to regularly visit Spain to soak up the methods employed there – not least because the Spanish had a way of incorporating players of a shorter stature, something the Northern Irishman could relate to!

Brendan tells us about working with true greats: Samuel Eto’o was the ultimate winner, Luis Suárez was the ultimate team player.

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Welcome to a new episode of Between the Lines. This is Martin's conversation with award-winning sportswriter Ian Ridley about his book Floodlit Dreams, which documents his spell as chairman of his hometown club, Weymouth FC. We’ve wanted to have Ian on the podcast for a while and when a previous guest, Neil Forsyth, chose Floodlit Dreams as his all-time favourite sports book, we thought it was time to get him on. If you’ve ever dreamed of taking over your own club, then this is for you. As usual, we also dive into the writing process and the behind-the-scenes stories that go into making a book.

Enjoy

Check out Floodlit Dreams

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Publisher and writer Pete Burns tells us why FitzSimons on Rugby, by Pete FitzSimons, is his all-time favourite sports books.

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Welcome to a new episode of Between the Lines. Our guest this week is Pete Burns, MD of Polaris Publishing, who have a growing list of authors including Tom English, Nick Cain, Stuart Barnes and Seth Burkett. Polaris brought out Matt Jansen's brilliant autobiography last year and we also co-published our Pep's City title with them in 2019.

In this episode, we discuss how COVID-19 has impacted sports publishing. As Pete says, the cost of the pandemic could be severe for publishers and booksellers in an increasingly challenging industry. Here, Pete explains his own strategy for surviving the crisis, by supporting writers and tailoring his list to suit the shifting landscape.

Polaris Publishing

Buy Pep's City

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Here’s another chance to hear my interview with Chris Sutton from season two.

Chris’ success as a striker in England and Scotland was rooted in a tough start. As a kid, an initial rejection by his local club Norwich just made him all the hungrier – and a second bite at the cherry with the Canaries plus his dad and his youth coach’s tough motivational approaches set him on the trajectory to a trophy-laden career.

At Norwich he once faced Alan Shearer while playing as a centre-half, and was on the end of a 7-1 schooling. But he so shone as a striker at Carrow Road that he would soon partner Shearer at Blackburn after a record transfer move. There, manager Kenny Dalglish had his players walking through walls for him all the way to a famous last-day league title win. Yet it was Chris’ incredibly successful relationship with the legendary Henrik Larsson at Celtic that was his most cherished, not least because it followed a very difficult period at Chelsea during which he had lost his confidence.

I guarantee you will love hearing this very different side to one of the game’s great characters.

Graham

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Journalist and author James Morgan tells us why Andre Agassi's autobiography, Open, and David Winner's Brilliant Orange are his all-time favourite sports books.

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Last season, our Socios at patreon.com/grahamhunter got an exclusive interview with Mark Schwarzer. For the first time, here’s the full episode.

Mark had a love affair with the UEFA Cup/Europa League, reaching the final of each with Middlesbrough and Fulham respectively, and, sadly, losing both. But this remarkable man is disarmingly philosophical about both defeats. In part two Mark also describes the incredible encounter against Manchester City that clinched Boro’s UEFA place, in which he crucially saved a late Robbie Fowler penalty in a match in which fellow goalie David James wore an outfield shirt! Mark describes his fraught relationship with Boro boss Steve McClaren, being part of Fulham’s incredible comeback against Juventus and the euphoria of Australia qualifying for the 2006 World Cup.

If you would prefer not to wait 12 months to listen to these extra interviews, it’s time to become a Socio at patreon.com/grahamhunter

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