Football Ramble

New manager bounce, you say? Oh no, Watford, there will be none of that. Man City got back to their ruthless best this weekend, while Liverpool saw off the plucky underdogs of Chelsea and Spurs lost at Leicester because Son Heung-min sloppily strayed a few atoms offside.  Down in London, Man United continue to suffer the fate of whatever Faustian bargain they must have made, while Arsenal won...

On today’s episode of Greatest Games, in association with The Blizzard, we’re joined by Nicholas Blincoe, the author of ‘More Noble Than War: A Football History of Israel and Palestine.’ We’re heading to that part of the world for today’s match as we take a look at the 1928 Tel Aviv Derby, where Maccabi took on Hapoel for the first time. In these clubs’ formative years, football was an entirely di...

And so to the South Coast for one of the biggest games of the season (apparently) as Southampton host Bournemouth, while Chelsea host Liverpool, desperately hoping they won’t win a penalty as they simply have no way of knowing what will happen if they do.  The true main event is of course Sean Dyche vs Daniel Farke. Will it be Burnley or Norwich who take home the points? Who cares? This one i...

The first round of Champions League fixtures is done and dusted, and we’re here to break it all down! We begin with Real Madrid’s loss to a surprisingly industrious PSG, as Ángel Di María put his former employers to the sword— is Zinedine Zidane’s job already at risk? We then round up the fortunes of the Italian sides with James, as Napoli earned a hard-fought victory over Liverpool and Inter drew...

On today’s episode of Ramble Meets… we speak to former Manchester United, Fulham and West Brom midfielder Jonathan Greening. In this revealing interview Jonathan talks about his early career at Manchester United in that treble-winning side, following Steve McClaren to Middlesborough and his appreciation for the old-school environment that shaped his formative years. Our live tour starts very soon!...

It’s your favourite Football Ramble Daily duo, here to get stuck into some football! We start with Norwich’s incredible win over Manchester City, and discuss the wider connotations that may have in this season’s title race. Are Liverpool now the favourites? Expanding this, we also discuss Tottenham’s start to the season after Mauricio Pochettino’s meeting with his players seems to have set them on...

In Daniel Farke’s voice: “A pleasing weekend of football in which many of the topics were covered, such as Norwich City’s win over Manchester City which was perhaps not expected, Liverpool asserting their sporting superiority over the struggling Newcastle United and Arsenal showing much quality in the first half of their game with Watford and then perhaps letting themselves down in the second. The...

Today’s episode of Greatest Games, in association with The Blizzard, sees us travel back to the 1936 German Olympics. Journalist and sports writer David Owen joins us to discuss the chaotic quarter-final between Peru and Austria. The game was played against a backdrop of Nazi rule and propaganda in front of a fairly empty Stadion am Gesundbrunnen. These were two sides with contrasting fortunes thr...

We’re back with an action packed show looking back at England’s dizzy 5-3 win over Kosovo at St Wembley’s, stark contrast between defeats for Scotland and Northern Ireland and that big old beast known as the Premier League. Can Leicester cause an upset at Old Trafford? Is that still an upset? Are Norwich toast against Man City? Where’s Delia?! Aside from all that Fort William FINALLY get a win, Ri...

Ciao amici miei! We’re back with another episode of On The Continent, and Lionel Messi’s loose lips are the talk of today’s town. We discuss his recent Sport interview where he noted he may well move on to pastures new should Barcelona not win more trophies, as well as assessing his club’s start to the season. Elsewhere we take a look at the recent international break as Portugal tonked Lithuania,...

We’re off to Östersund, Sweden for our latest episode of Ramble Meets… There, Andy Brassell talks to goalkeeping coach and football journalist, David Preece. In this revealing interview, David describes how his playing career took him across England, Denmark and Iceland. He also touches on his more recent coaching stints at Lincoln City and now Östersunds FK. He discusses his childhood growing up...

It's Tuesday, and that means everyone's favourite pair are back discussing the big football issues of the day. First up, Jules and Andy chat about the big kick off in the Women's Super League as over 30,000 fans attended the Manchester derby at the Etihad. Next, there's the big club v country debate after the international break. Finally, the guys pore over the managerial changes that have taken p...

Eeeeasy etc. England’s organised lions despatched Bulgaria at Wembley, Wales got the win they needed and Scotland unfortunately didn’t, but we’re still all another game closer to Euro 2020 and that can only be good. Elsewhere Watford are up to their old tricks (sacking managers), Louis Van Gaal and Tony Adams have teamed up for a weird reason, there are palm trees in Bournemouth, and we discover P...

For today’s episode of Greatest Games, in association with The Blizzard, we’re joined by another member of the Football Ramble Daily parish: Andy Brassell! He’s here to discuss the 1971 European Cup final, where Rinus Michels ’  imperious Ajax side took on Ferenc Puskás’ Panathinaikos. Ferenc Puskás’ return to Wembley - eighteen years after his miraculous display in Hungary’s 6-3 hiding of En...

It’s the first international break of the season and we have a look at the most important contest of the week, which is of course Michael Owen vs Alan Shearer. Where the hell did that come from? Let’s see how this fascinating story develops.  As well as minor things such as the Euro 2020 qualifiers we learn how to keep tabs on various Peters, flying footwear and the spotting of a Ramble favou...

Welcome back to On The Continent here on Football Ramble Daily. This time around Luke, James and Andy take the time to round up the biggest moves in Europe after the transfer window closed on Monday, including Mauro Icardi's loan to PSG and Falcao's incredible reception upon his arrival in Istanbul. Across in Italy, James gives us the latest on Inter Ultras' ridiculous statement regarding the raci...

As well as enjoying a 12-year professional career consisting of over 400 appearances, Groves was a big part of the team that won two league titles for Arsenal under George Graham and was a fan favourite at Highbury, thanks to his exciting wing play and endearing nature. In this exclusive interview, Perry discusses his journey to fulfilling his dream of playing for Arsenal, the two achilles tendon...

What’s going wrong at Manchester United? That’s our first question on today’s episode of Jules & Andy, as we cast a reflective eye over Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s time in charge. Despite some promising young signings in the summer, they still seem to be lacking in key areas further up the pitch. Can they turn it around? Or is Solskjær’s time running out? Later on, Andy makes a case for the defence...

An exhilarating North London Derby at the Emirates headlined a great weekend of football and we take a fond look back over starring roles from Granit Xhaka and Harry Kane, the pros and cons of Chelsea’s wobbly start to the season and Everton and Wolves playing out a humdinger of a ding dong. Segueing neatly on we also look at Swansea’s rout(ledge) of Leeds, a Sebastien Coates disaster-class and Er...

For our latest episode of Greatest Games, we’re joined by football writer and broadcaster Tom Williams as we take a deeper look at the 2006 World Cup quarter-final between Brazil and France. This match, despite being awash with some of the greatest players in history, was completely dominated by the balletic and utterly irresistible Zinedine Zidane. After two poor seasons with Real Madrid, many—Zi...

There can be nowhere to start other than with the terrible news that Bury have been expelled from the EFL. Our commiserations to any Bury fans. Let’s hope that this never happens again. Away from that awful situation we do have a cracking weekend ahead, with an early North London Derby, Liverpool bringing their attacking verve to Burnley and Man United heading down to Southampton.  Elsewhere...

Ciao and willkommen to another lovely episode of On The Continent! We’re here to provide our usual service of scratching your various European football itches. We begin with the sorry scenes in Nice, as homophobic banners and chanting halted their match with Marseille. We discuss the wider connotations involving the governing authorities’ attempts to curtail these various examples of abhorrent beh...

With his books Living on the Volcano, The Nowhere Men, No Hunger in Paradise and State of Play, Michael Calvin has established himself as the go-to chronicler of just about every aspect of the modern game. A multi-award winning journalist and writer, he has spent over 40 years covering the world's most popular sport at all levels. Here, in this exclusive interview, Mike tells Football Ramble Daily...

We start today’s episode of Jules & Andy with a look at some of the abhorrent racist abuse on social media that has been gaining publicity over the weekend. We discuss the possible ways to combat and reduce such abuse, and Jules discusses her own experience as a woman working in the game. Elsewhere, we take a look at an impressive year for Wolves, as they stand on the brink of qualification fo...

A bad result for the now notoriously “not that good” Man United gets us underway as we look back at the weekend’s action, giving Marcus many opportunities to pronounce “Solskjaer” in that way that he does.  There’s way more than that though. We’ve got your Biblical Chelsea. We’ve got your Steve Bruce watching the cricket. We’ve got your Antoine Griezmann lobbing glitter about. We’ve got your...