Football Ramble

Greetings from Football Ramble Daily HQ, where your favourite duo are back with another episode! With England safely qualified for the Euros, and the other home nations still in contention, we look ahead to how the multi-city tournament next summer will affect travelling fans and journalists. We discuss how some of the host cities can maintain an air of excitement across the four weeks, as well as...

England finish their Euro 2020 qualification campaign with a 4-0 win while Wales and Ireland can still qualify automatically. It’s happening, people, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. There’s going to be a festival of football next summer and we and all our giddy aunts are invited.  There’s also a probably well overdue return for the corrections and clarifications section, Mick McCar...

On today’s episode of Greatest Games, in association with The Blizzard, we’re joined by football writer and Guardian contributor John Brewin. Here’s here to discuss a scintillating group stage match in the 1997 Champions League: Manchester United 3-2 Juventus. Even as Serie A’s reign as the world’s greatest league was coming to a close, Juventus were still a totemic footballing powerhouse. Sir Ale...

England celebrated their 1000th game with an emphatic win in front of the King of Surrey (Marcus) to get us all excited about the prospect of how they might perform at Euro 2020, especially given how many games are at Wembley. Are we being overly optimistic? We’re not even sure ourselves. Elsewhere Wales need to beat Azerbaijan before a sterner test against Hungary, Northern Ireland have the tiny...

We begin today’s episode of On The Continent by discussing the recent news of David Villa’s retirement. We discuss his storied career and where he sits alongside the great strikers of modern football, before trying to work out the next move of another storied striker from recent times: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Elsewhere, James talks us through Cristiano Ronaldo being perpetually substituted by Maurizio...

On today’s Ramble Meets… Andy Brassell is joined by former QPR, Tottenham, Manchester City and England striker Clive Allen! With his new autobiography ‘Up Front’ recently released, Clive joins Andy to discuss his 17-year professional career as a prolific forward through the eighties and nineties. The two reminisce about a range of his experiences including the challenging start to his professional...

ules & Andy are back with some breaking news to kick off this episode, as Neil Warnock leaves Cardiff City with immediate effect. We discuss the hugely impressive job Warnock has done at Cardiff during his tenure, and consider the implications for the Championship as a whole. After that news flash, we get into the Lionesses’ recent stuttering performances and evaluate how successful Phil Nevil...

Advantage Liverpool! Jurgen Klopp’s men struck a huge blow over their rivals in the race for the title, who themselves comfortably beat Arsenal at the King Power stadium the day before.  Wolves impressed once again, while we’re starting to fear for Norwich after a home defeat to Watford. Where are you, Norwich? Let’s be ‘avin you. Elsewhere Michael O’Neill doubles his employment, we here abou...

For anyone who thinks the 2012 Aguero goal was the most startling finish to a top flight season, you’ve not looked back at the final day of the 1988/89 First Division. That’s where we are heading on today’s episode of Greatest Games, in association with The Blizzard. We’re joined by Amy Lawrence, journalist for The Athletic and author of 89: Arsenal’s Greatest Moment, Told in Our Own Words. She’s...

Hello from Canada! We’re away on our travels but don’t think that means we’ve forgotten you.  We cast a glance over possibly the most significant thigh rubber of the season when Liverpool and Man City face off, factor Jamie Vardy into our thoughts on Leicester vs Arsenal and look back at Chelsea’s eventful Champions League adventures. Elsewhere; TV tattoos, Chris Kamara’s generosity and sugge...

We’re back with another episode of On The Continent, and the headmaster is away! Yes, with Luke off with The Ramble chasing the bright lights of Broadway, James and Andy are joined by renowned OTC guest Lars Sivertsen! The three of them are here to break down another cracking round of Champions League football, as well as look ahead to domestic games this weekend. There’s chat about Chelsea and Aj...

We’re doing something slightly different on today’s episode of Ramble Meets… as we swap pass backs for a pass rusher, and corner flags for a cornerback. We’re joined by two-time Super Bowl champion Osi Umenyiora and former Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans and New York Giants cornerback Jason Bell. After two hugely successful careers, many of you will now know Jason and Osi as NFL broadcasters for th...

With The Ramble off on their American sojourn, we’re here to take a look at all the action from Sunday’s Premier League fixtures! We begin with Everton and Spurs’ dreary draw, where the horrific injury to André Gomes was unfortunately the game’s biggest talking point. We also discuss the two teams’ respective struggles, before heading south to the other game from the day: Crystal Palace vs Leicest...

At The Match returns for a big one - it's the first-ever top flight meeting between Berlin's two premier clubs, Union and Hertha, as the former mark their debut campaign amongst the elite. In an intense atmosphere between clubs that played in different national leagues until Germany reunification in 1990, Andy speaks to Union social media guru Ross Dunbar about the club's stratospheric rise in the...

The weekend’s football looked like it was going to be full of surprises until it wasn’t, as Man City and Liverpool kept up their intriguing ding dong, followed by some mind games from Pep, while plucky Man United tried their best against Bournemouth but continued to struggle at this level.  Andy Carroll got onto the pitch though, and in a Newcastle win! So that was nice.  Aside from this...

Jonathan has to deal with an exceedingly giddy Marcus on today’s episode of Greatest Games, produced in association with The Blizzard. We’re here to discuss the 2009-10 UEFA Cup- specifically Fulham’s spectacular 4-1 win over Juventus on their route to the final, alongside journalist and author Philippe Auclair. Throughout a season that saw Fulham play over 60 games, managed by the underrated Roy...

A night of absolute chaos at Anfield as Liverpool were victorious over Arsenal on penalties after a pulsating 5-5 draw. Is it time for Jose Mourinho to step in at The Emirates? NO. NO IT IS NOT. Arsenal host Wolves next, so we naturally discuss Nuno Espirito Santo’s attempt to balance such animals and how Halloween might effect the game, while we also look at Southampton’s potential destruction at...

After a midweek packed full of continental football, Luke’s back at Football Ramble Daily HQ to run through it all alongside our continental compatriots James Horncastle and Andy Brassell! Ya! We begin over in Serie A and, as many listeners have been asking about him, discuss Thiago Motta’s recent appointment as the new coach of Genoa. There’s also talk about yesterday’s humdinger between Napoli a...

Jim is joined by the star of Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats, Dane Baptiste, as he steps up as player-manager of his dream five-a-side team.  With a particularly impressive balance of quality and outright skullduggery, Dane’s side is revealed among tales of dad-vendettas, the low quality of British football nicknames and training ground recreations of Goodfellas. Warnin...

Jules has just about recovered from the high of seeing Brighton first on the Match of the Day running order to hotfoot it to the studio for today’s episode! Today, we discuss the relationship between players and fans when things aren’t going to plan. After the booing aimed at Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka on Sunday and some Southampton fans demanding a refund after their humbling loss against Leicester,...

Another excellent weekend of football, the plucky little game that’s really starting to take hold. Liverpool earned a hard fought three points against Spurs, Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic dazzled and Arsenal vs Crystal Palace once again did justice to the hashtag #arscry That’s not to forget Friday night’s game, (oh) when the Saints went piling in and Leicester City played like a team possessed (by...

Today’s episode of Greatest Games features one of the most significant games in the history of European football: the 1974 World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands. We’re joined by author and journalist David Winner, the author of ‘Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football’ and former biographer of Dennis Bergkamp, to recount the arrival of Johan Cruyff and Total Foot...

There’s been plenty of good stuff going on at the top of the football pyramid but forget all that (for now) because Big Sol Campbell is back! Southend United have done us all a favour and installed the big man as their manager. More as we get it.  We also look ahead to an Anfield thigh-rubber, a hair-based conspiracy, the wolf-like Christian Pulisic and Newcastle’s St James’ Park fortress.&nb...

We’re back with another episode of On The Continent, serving up another slice of Champions League reaction on this fine Thursday! We discuss Kylian Mbappé coming off the bench and casually notching a perfect hat-trick as PSG swept aside Club Brugge, as well as important midweek wins for Inter and Atlético. The latter have had a tough time of late, and Andy breaks down their poor start that’s found...

On today’s Ramble Meets… Andy Brassell sits down with Robert Klein, the CEO of Bundesliga International. Robert is responsible for promoting the Bundesliga brand and its football following to a wider audience. With Robert promoting a style of football he believes to be a combination of Premier League physicality and Spanish technicality, Bundesliga International have been setting up local offices...