The News Agents

Who does football really belong to?

After the highest grossing world cup of all time, and as FIFA & UEFA accuse each other of selling football’s soul, Gabby Mark & Nedum debate who sport belongs to and surprise, surprise it aint the fans.

But are supporters in the stands really just props for a TV product or do they still have a genuine stake in the sports they pay so much to follow?

Elsewhere as the opening weekend of the Championship looms large, the guys tell the tale of Lincoln City with CEO Liam Scully. For the first time in 65 years The Imps will kick a ball in the second tier of English football and it is all thanks to a miracle FA Cup run a decade ago.

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Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides

Senior Producer: David Finch

Video Producer: Samuel Trudgill

Social Media Editor: Jasmine Wissart

Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network

Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The Sports Agents".

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24 hours on from the Tory neo-Nazigate , a curious development. The candidate himself, Joshua Bonehill-Paine, has now withdrawn from the election in Somerset council - only to find himself promoted by the Conservative leader herself to a national advisory role.

Why is 'no gaffes' Kemi choosing this eccentric hill to make her point - and what in fact is it? Meanwhile, she’s given an interview ruling out any future pact with Reform - and lambasting THEIR leader as "too woke". All ok, Kemi?

Later, the singer Tulisa was the victim of a sting 13 years ago by the Sun on Sunday. It nearly destroyed her life. She tells Emily why she wants to make this kind of journalism illegal - and the petition she’s begun to change the way newspapers are regulated.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

UPDATE: Since publishing, the convicted antisemite Joshua Bonehill-Paine has withdrawn running as a Tory candidate, saying that if he carried on "other political parties will spend all their time focusing on my past rather than the work I'm doing today, or even fighting antisemitism in their own midst".

Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, released at statement saying; "While I am sad that Joshua feels he won't be given the space to explain his position and represent his community, I am glad he is going to work with me and the party on tackling radicalisation as part of our Culture and Integration commission."

This morning, Badenoch was in the slightly surreal position of trying to defend why she was encouraging a convicted Neo Nazi to stand as a Conservative councillor in Somerset. She and he say that he’s a reformed - not Reform- candidate who’s served his time (behind bars) and is now educating others on the ills of antisemitism. Can an abusive misogynist racist change in a decade? And should he be allowed to seek public office even if he has?

Later - the Thames Valley police chief has threatened to take the government to court over the early release of the killers of PC Andrew Harper. Is Prime Minister Burnham feeling his first political heat over this contentious policy of early release? And how does he transition from being the emotionally connected campaigner to being the one size fits all policy maker?

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Why are hard right politicians now flocking to the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta off the coast of Morocco? And why is Europe so spooked? After tens of thousands of migrants flocked to this northern corner of Africa, the EU has gone into emergency mode - nearly a hundred people died or drowned in an attempt to enter Spain through Ceuta. Italy has suspended free movement with Spain for a month. Other countries are suggesting they might follow suit. The government in Madrid is on the EU's naughty step - could it cause a bigger rupture?

Later, MAGA cheerleader turned Trump-appointee Jeanine Pirro is facing the wrath of the President after dropping vandalism charges relating to the Reflecting Pool that has become his obsession. He told reporters that Pirro had "choked" and "folded like a chair" - can she keep her job?

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Nigel hates Rupert but needs him and Rupert wants Nigel to beg. Could Restore and Reform ever do a deal to take on the newly invigorated Labour party? Or is there too much toxicity to even get on the phone?

Later - Will FIFA president Gianni Infantino last the week after so many football associations have turned against him - and will Trump stick by the man who gave him the peace prize?

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Andy Burnham hasn't even been Prime Minister for two weeks, but the early verdict is positive. He's looked decisive, commanded the agenda and projected authority. The question is: will that matter?

New governments often think they know what will define them but history has a habit of intervening. The biggest political events are often the ones nobody sees coming. Could the next defining crisis already be taking shape?

This week saw a bruising sell-off in AI stocks as investors questioned whether the more than $1.5 trillion pouring into AI can ever deliver the returns being promised. Some are beginning to ask whether we're watching an AI bubble form. And if it bursts, the consequences could stretch far beyond Silicon Valley.

The last time we saw a collapse on this scale was 1929 - the Wall Street Crash. It reshaped politics, economics and the course of the twentieth century.

This Friday, Andrew Ross Sorkin joins The News Agents to discuss his new book on the 1929 crash. What really caused it? And why the parallels with today's AI boom are becoming harder to ignore?

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

As Eddie Howe dramatically quits Newcastle 3 weeks before the start of a new Premier League season, Mark Chapman & guests unpack the financial meltdown which led to Newcastle losing their most successful coach for 70 years.

The Athletic’s Chris Waugh explains the timing of Eddie Howe’s decision and asks if club captain Bruno Guimares’ seemingly imminent departure to Arsenal was the final straw?

But how did Newcastle, a club with some of the richest owners in world football, find themselves in a situation where they have to sell their best players?

Football finance expert Stefan Borson joins Mark in the studio to explain how the financial shackles which UEFA & the Premier League imposed on Newcastle led us to this point.

Elsewhere we lift the lid on the new financial rules - a Squad Cost Ratio system (SCR) - which will govern Premier League clubs this season and discover a set of unpublished laws which widen the wealth gap between the big 6 clubs and the rest of the league.

📩 Got a question for The Sports Agents? https://forms.gle/9SBbW1SYWqXLKnRT7

🖥️ Watch our full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SportsAgentsPod

📱Follow us on socials:

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thesportsagents

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesportsagents/

X - https://x.com/sportsagentspod

📥 Email: [email protected]

💭 Take our listener survey: https://forms.gle/YMUvajQktqBuimgh6

Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides

Producers: David Finch & George Sexton-Kerr

Video Producer: Samuel Trudgill

Social Media Editor: Jasmine Wissart

Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network

Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The Sports Agents".

👕 The Sports Agents have merch! You can buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-sports-agents

Dr Anthony Fauci became a world-renowned figure during Covid - one of America's top virologists with a lifetime of public service to his name. And yet, in a Senate committee yesterday, he was condemned in the strongest terms by several Republicans, and had to plead the fifth amendment 100 times.

He accused the senior GOP Senator Rand Paul (who chairs the committee) of having an "obsession" with him. Ted Cruz has said that his silence should lead to a contempt of Congress charge and potential jail time. How on earth has he became such an enemy of the American Right? And what does it say about the long legacy of Covid on our politics?

Later, Baroness Casey speaks to Lewis about the social care review and what it's like working for Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham.

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Andy Burnham has set out plans to fix England’s struggling social care system - promising a new National Care Service, cross-party talks and a review designed to tackle a system he says is no longer working. But how quickly can reform happen, and who will pay for it?

In this episode, we unpack the announcement, and ask whether the new PM can finally deliver meaningful change.

Later, we're joined by Sky News' economics and data editor and of host of the 'Stuff Matters' podcast - Ed Conway - to analyse the economic challenges ahead for Burnham.

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Reform UK has referred Green party leader Zack Polanski to the police for "inciting murder" after a post he shared on social media.

The image, shared and then deleted on Instagram, showed a man wearing a tee shirt with the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel” next to a picture of a guillotine.

Farage has said: "“If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski”. The police are now "conducting inquiries".

The Greens say that Polanski “condemns the image on the tee shirt” and that he had only ever accepted being tagged in a post that contained 20 images “without realising there was more to it than he had seen”.

Has Polanski crossed a line? Is he too online? And why are Reform quick to defend people like Lucy Connolly but now calling for the arrest of a rival party leader?

Later, Andy Burnham unveils plans for vocational education to be offered from the age of fourteen, with bespoke training tapping into the local jobs market. It's a far cry from the Blair-era push to get as many young people into university as possible. Does it make sense given the shifting jobs market? Or does he risk denigrating universities and one of the few success stories of modern Britain?

The News Agents is a Global Production.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/