The Bold Tackle

I think it’s fair to say that it’s been very sad news for every single Liverpool supporter this past week – Jürgen Klopp has announced that he will be leaving the Reds at the end of the 2023/24 season. After an incredibly successful spell at the club, Klopp will be departing as one of the greatest. But what makes Klopp so good? Why is he so loved by the fans and the community and how come his players - present and past - speak so highly of their manager? In this episode we will be discussing managers in the game. What does it really mean to ‘manage a team’ and what are fundamental values and attributes a manager needs to display. What role does communication play when leading a team and how can you foster team togetherness despite the challenges of team selection and individual disappointment.

From crying in the changing room wondering what she was doing ‘here’ to winning the Women’s Champion’s League twice and being Belgium’s most capped women’s player - It’s fair to say Janice Cayman is an incredible athlete who used her passion for the game to overcome frustration and disappointment and to go and pursuit her dreams. Now, Janice is part of Leicester City’s set-up and is looking to bring her top-class quality and experience to this ‘exciting project’.

There’s no doubt that Women’s Football has come a long way in recent years and has undergone an incredible development to get to the stage that it’s at now. But what really are the biggest changes from a decade ago? What does a professional set up entail and what support is offered to the athletes to reach their potential? In this episode we will be discussing the impressive development of women’s football and will compare current set -ups with those from ten years ago. Further, we will be highlighting the demands of athletes on and off the pitch and will discuss how becoming a professional athlete is not simply a job but more a commitment to a lifestyle fully dedicated to the sport. And lastly, we will be addressing the importance of feedback for the development as a player and person and will be discussing the idea of a mentorship program that in Sophie’s eyes could be a missing piece to the professional set up.

Head knocks and head injuries – a topic close to Sophie’s heart and a topic that she is not only passionate about but unfortunately also has a fair bit of experience with. Soph received her latest concussion during the last game in 2023 before the Christmas break and has fortunately managed to recover smoothly and quickly and is back on the pitch working hard. In this episode we will be discussing head injuries in football and will be highlighting Sophie’s experience herewith during her career. Finally, we will be looking at the impact of heading load on training management and why Sophie demanded to see a head trauma/brain specialist after a conversation with her family.

We are finally back! In this very first episode of the second round of discussions we will be talking about contracts and the transfer window. What is the role of agents in contract talks? Why are contracts offered in women’s football so much shorter than in men’s football? And what factor does age play in the negotiations? In this episode we will be discussing the process of contract negotiations with Sophie giving us an insight into her experience, her current situation and what she thinks she would do differently having learned from her own mistakes.

As our final episode before Christmas and therefore our final episode for this year, we are taking this opportunity to do a review of 2023. After a very eventful year both personally and professionally, we will be discussing each of our highlights and will be addressing potential low points of the year. What made us happy this year? What are we proud of and what are we looking forward to in the upcoming year? How did we deal with these mentioned low points and what role did family pay for both of us in 2023? Despite our career highlights being very different we both very much agree that not only the birth of Oli’s daughter and him marrying his wife but most importantly the amount of precious family time we managed to all spend together has made this year extra special and makes us very much look forward to Christmas and the year 2024. Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year! See you in 2024!

Back on international duty, back to Nations League. Scotland currently sit bottom of the table and have everything to play for in these next two games against Belgium and England.

What’s been happening? In this week’s episode we will be using the opportunity to recap the last couple of weeks. What’s been happening on the pitch for LCFC’s Women? What’s been the big take-aways from the recent tough games and where does this leave the group going forward? Furthermore, we are also giving a quick debrief on our latest two episodes where we will be discussing our favourite moments of Katharina’s and Shaunagh’s insights. Two completely different but very inspirational discussions leaving both of us and hopefully all of you with some thinking to do. How do you use your past experiences to fuel you to go and achieve? What’s the one advice you’d give your children when they start their journey in sports?

She’s a professional rugby player, a former hammer thrower, a gas engineer and a firefighter. And that’s only mentioning a few of her successful careers on and off the pitch. When Shaunagh is approached and seizes an opportunity, she commits wholeheartedly and gives it her all.

Katharina Kleinfeldt is one of the upcoming sports presenters in Germany. Currently, she is a TV presenter for the German broadcaster Sport1 and has spent many years covering the biggest sports competitions ranging from the German Handball Bundesliga to London’s famous Grand-Slam Wimbledon. We invited Katharina, who grew up playing football with Sophie’s twin sister, to join us on the podcast and explore her journey within sports journalism and presenting. Here, we discuss Katharina’s motivation to aspire a career within the world of media and how she managed to not only persevere but very much thrive within a male dominant industry. Further, Katharina shares why Saturday nights have become her very own “game day”, gives us her opinion and perspective on the question around emotions and honesty within interviews and lastly highlights the role and importance of human connection within her work.