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Welcome to a new episode of Between the Lines. Our guest this week is James Morgan, who wrote the first book we ever published as a company, back in 2010. It was called In Search of Alan Gilzean and it was nominated for Football Book of the Year.

Our conversation this week is on a piece he wrote for The Herald about the day in 1964 when a bunch of Celtic players turned up in a small Donegal town to play in a lucrative summer cup competition called The Kennedy Cup. Incredibly, they actually played in disguise to protect their identities. This was less than three years before they became champions of Europe in Lisbon.

It’s a fantastic, distinctively Irish tale, but the story behind it is also interesting. James’ work is always built on extensive research and I think you’ll enjoy hearing about the way he goes about building up the story.

Enjoy

Read James' piece

Buy In Search of Alan Gilzean

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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 – an Aussie with German parents – kept goal for Dresden in the unsettled aftermath of reunification, and then at Kaiserslautern, where he was disrespected and unappreciated. His big break in England came when he was trialling for Manchester City in a friendly against Bradford. Bantams manager Chris Kamara liked the cut of his jib and signed him up. Mark speaks about breaking a bone in his back while at Fulham in a match against Swansea – and then playing on! He also describes being thrown in at the deep end when Chelsea’s Petr Cech was injured in a Champions League semi-final at Atletico Madrid, and keeping the score at 0-0.

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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In part two, John Hartson describes his happy days at West Ham – before everything went sour after an infamous incident with Eyal Berkovic. It took a special kind of guy to come back from that low-point.

John once set up Craig Bellamy to score the winner against Italy with a pass worthy of Xavi. It gave Wales one of their greatest-ever nights in football.

John made the best of his abilities and has fond memories of everywhere he played. But if you forced him to choose, he’s pick playing alongside the likes of Henrik Larsson at Celtic as the highpoint of his career. He describes missing a penalty against Rangers in a cup final defeat at the weekend, and then redeeming himself in midweek with a memorable strike at Liverpool, as the Hoops went on a famous run to the 2003 UEFA Cup final.

Enjoy.

Graham

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Welcome to … a shorter episode of Between the Lines.

We had a technical issue with the episode scheduled for this week, so we will be back next week with a full-length episode.

In the meantime, here's some links to stuff mentioned in this mini-episode...

James Morgan's piece for next week's show

BackPage's definitive list of sports documentaries and movies

Eat Sleep Work Repeat - The 4-Day Revolution

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John Hartson broke up my Spanish detention with a brilliant remotely-recorded Big Interview.

Big Bad John was the kind of centre-forward who defenders hated marking. If they were smaller than him, he would just knock ’em over, then pick ’em back up. So John was shocked when Valencia’s Roberto ‘The Mouse’ Ayala gave him his hardest shift in a Celtic jersey.

There’s great stuff here about John’s time as an old-school apprentice at Luton, when he looked after his hero Mick Harford’s boots, and there’s chat about losing a European final with Arsenal in agonising circumstances. But he never blamed David Seaman for his horrible mistake.

Thanks, big man.

Graham

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Children's authors Matt and Tom Oldfield tell us why Mike Calvin's The Nowhere Men and Playing for Keeps, by David Halberstam, are their all-time favourite sports book.

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Welcome to a new episode of Between the Lines. This is Martin's conversation with Matt and Tom Oldfield, two brothers who between them have written the Ultimate Football Heroes series of books for children aged between 7 and 12.

The series features stars such as Messi, Ronaldo, Virgin Van Dijk, Kevin De Bruyne and many more. As always with Between the Lines, we focus on the story behind the books - the path to publication, writing style and the enormous commercial success of the books which have now sold over 400,000 copies.

We think you’ll really enjoy this one. And if you have young children at home at the moment, this might be the perfect time to introduce them to this series.

Enjoy

Ultimate Football Heroes

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After the sad news that Michael Robinson has died, I recorded this about a man I knew well and admired, who helped me during my career here in Spain and who helped shape as generation of broadcasters and journalists, particularly those making their way in a country that was not theirs by birth. He could play a bit, too.

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Here’s another chance to hear my interview with Matt Le Tissier from season two.

Matt was such a naturally gifted performer that he could have joined any team he chose. Instead, he was that rarity in the modern game: a one-club player. Matt describes the utter joy he took in lighting up Southampton’s old ground The Dell with his stunning tricks and goals – this interview is about football elevated to an art form. Listen as he describes netting the last-ever goal at The Dell, a goal that he just knew he was going to score. You’ll also hear about that special season when he enjoyed a telepathic relationship with Danish genius Ronnie Ekelund, his strained relationship with Glenn Hoddle – the only manager he ever swore at, and the grim, but ultimately triumphant campaigns against relegation in which he led by his example of sheer will to win.

I guarantee, you will love this interview as much as I did.

Graham

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Screenwriter Neil Forsyth tells us why Ian Ridley's Floodlit Dreams is his all-time favourite sports book.

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