Football Ramble

Drama all over the place as the Jose Mourinho/Paul Pogba power play rumbles on in the press, West Ham give Macclesfield a battering and Phil Foden apparently reveals himself to be the reincarnation of the very-much-alive Andres Iniesta.  We also wonder if we’ll ever see the full potential of the promising Eden Hazard, propose a feasible alternative for penalties and discover that it is possib...

Welcome to your cat’s favourite podcast (all will be revealed inside) in which we bask in the glory of Burnley’s lovely weekend and ponder a future that features Aaron Lennon tearing it up for England. It could happen, shut up.  Over at Old Trafford something still doesn’t seem quite right but luckily for Jose Mourinho we have a solution, we dream of a night out with Jamie Vardy, Geoff Shreev...

A trio of returns to the Ramble headlines for Daniel Sturridge, Tony Blair and Pete’s former pop-punk outfit One Eyed Willy this week, surprising us as much as anyone else. We look back over some delicious Champions League action, improvise a kind of Neil Warnock fanfic and continue to give Jose Mourinho immense credit.  Elsewhere Sven continues to be the gift that keeps on giving, Keggy pops...

Hello. Us again. We’re here to dissect another excellent weekend of football, discussing who the Messiest goalkeeper in the league is - it’s not Petr Cech - West Ham’s birthday form and Pete’s trip to The Sports Direct Massive Mugdome. We also make the case to add further end of season awards, bask in the glory of Zlatan’s 500th career goal and learn that people are going wild about Hartlepool. Se...

The Premier League is back after the new-look international break and we’re all fascinated to see if it will be enough to wake up sleepy Harry Kane. There’s much to look forward to: Marcus Rashford hopefully getting a run out, Danny Ings back from a blister, MIKE DEAN. On top of all this there is the welcome and hopefully permanent return to international football for George Weah, a retrospective...

Michael Owen crashed on to the scene in May 1997 in a Premier League game for Liverpool against Wimbledon, and marked it with a goal. Obviously. From then on his career was a whirlwind that involved setting international tournaments alight, a move abroad to the biggest club in the world, injuries, and goals. Lots and lots of goals. Marcus caught up with Michael for this latest...

England’s attempts to get the rave on came unstuck against Spain but it doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the UEFA Nations League. We get aboard the Fabian Delph hype train, ponder the locations of Gareth Southgate’s waistcoats and generally cut England some slack.  Aside from the other notable international action we also reflect on Fort William’s latest gubbing, from Keith, no less, hear ta...

It’s coming home again as England prepare for the inaugural UEFA Nations League campaign, and what a confusing campaign it’ll be if the format is anything to go by. Full disclosure, we’re all for it. If anything it isn’t complicated enough.  We talk about England’s renewed spirit, double agents in the Bundesliga and the need for legs, while we also enjoy the musings of Robert Earnshaw and flo...

The sun is shining for Watford as they simultaneously ruffle Spurs’ feathers and give us all a lesson in parenting. At Liverpool, Alisson Becker gives hope of a recall to The Substitute Keeper and Joe Hart knackers himself seeing off Paul Pogba’s silly run up.  We have an unsolicited update on Pete’s vendettas where the emails are supposed to be, discover that Phil Neville knows his ice cream...

The Premier League says ta ta, Yaya, as Mr Toure heads off to Greece with a beautifully unnecessary parting dig from his agent, while across Manchester the Aretha Franklin tributes are starting to become a cause for concern at Hotel Mourinho. Elsewhere, Neil Warnock limbers up to try to cause an upset, Real Madrid send some suspiciously gracious correspondence and Going For Glold has its first ful...

Across a 35-year career in football, Carlos Carvalhal has gone from a no-nonsense centre-half in his native Portugal to managing Swansea in the Premier League, via spells at Sporting, Besiktas and a 2.5 year stint at Sheffield Wednesday in which his side narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League in both his full seasons at the club. As the first working manager to appear in...

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! We're back in the saddle and ruminating over the weekend's games, starting with comeback kings Bournemouth and their draw against Everton, followed by a good chinwag about Arsenal's win over a slow-starting West Ham. Also on your all-new Ramble: Wolves roar, Roy Hodgson gets angry and a little big confused over a giant vespidae, Patrick Van Aanholt has a dig, and much...

It's Thursday so it must be time for another preview show from The Football Ramble! What ho! This time around, we're casting our eyes across buoyant Brighton's trip to Anfield - can Chris Hughton's United-slayers cause another upset? After that we anticipate Jack Wilshere's return to Arsenal in his capacity as 50% of West Ham's engine room, followed by Newcastle United hosting Chelsea and loads mo...

Here we go again! The Ramble's back for your aural delectation! To kick us off this week, Manchester United slip up on the south coast much to Brighton's delight, and Chelsea squeak past a profligate Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Elsewhere in the Premier League Watford pick up a lovely result at Burnley, Spurs ease past Fulham, and Luke is particularly animated about West Ham's defending (or lack of...

It's almost the weekend which means it must be time for yet another preview show! And boy oh boy are there some games to sink our teeth into (there always are to be fair, because that's how football works).  First up, Fulham head to Wembley to face Spurs and attempt to exorcise their Crystal Palace-related demons, and we ruminate on when those north Londoners are ever going to be in their new...

The Premier League is up and running, and so are Man City and Liverpool - both of whom recorded eye-catching wins against Arsenal and West Ham respectively. Elsewhere there's chat about a hard day at the office for Fulham, and a look at Wolves' point against Everton. As the Marcelo Bielsa era gets up and running, we wax lyrical about the effect the big Argentinian is having at Elland Road, and als...

It's the first Preview Show of the season! Huzzah!  And what's more, there's plenty of football to sink our teeth into. First up, Manchester United host Leicester City at Old Trafford, which will undoubtedly give Jose Mourinho something to moan about. Elsewhere across the weekend, there's an Arsenal face off against champions Man City in a stern test of Unai Emery's credentials, West Ham take...

Hello again friends, we're back and bloody excited for the new season! And there's plenty to get our teeth into as well - Pep Guardiola's Man City outwit Chelsea in the Community Shield, but we're still a way away from the full Sarrification of those Blues. There's also transfer news a go-go, particularly at Liverpool, and Jose Mourinho seems to be on a one-man mission to undermine everything at O...

In a football career spanning 19 years and counting, Matt Taylor has just about seen it all. From breaking into Luton Town's first team as a 17 year old, to achieving promotion to the Premier League twice with Portsmouth and West Ham, he is now a player/coach at Swindon Town. In this exclusive interview with The Football Ramble, Matt talks to Luke about his early experiences as a footballer lookin...

What a delight this World Cup has been! We saddle up in the studio one last time to run the rule over the final, have a warm glance back at England’s performances, our overall highlights and, of course, reveal our pre-tournament predictions.  Thanks to each and every one of you for joining us for a life affirming, exhilarating World Cup. We couldn’t do it without you. At least not without it...

The semi-final may have been a game too far for England but what a journey it’s been. Gareth the Lionheart’s young team fell short but gave us memories that we’ll cherish forever. Knighthoods for all! We look back over England’s tournament with fondness, surprise and a little bit of curiosity about what could have been. That’s more like it. We also discuss the irrelevances that are the third place...

Well, here we are in uncharted Football Ramble territory, as England prepare for a World Cup semi-final with Croatia. We steel ourselves for the game by way of adventures with Keith Allen in Screw Fix, reminiscence of tournaments past and the fev-o-meter going into overdrive.  Alongside that we look over an impressive, surgical win from France, enjoy a dig from Fabio Capello and learn to ‘dri...

And on it goes. England guarantee that they’ll play the maximum amount of games in a World Cup by making the semi-final. It’s one of the most surprising things to happen in the time we’ve been doing the podcast and, frankly, we are giddy. There was another game too, as the mighty England’s opponents need to be decided. Russia bow out having had a memorable tournament in a game full of surprising e...

Tactical whizz man Roberto Martinez masterminded an impressive win over Brazil as Belgium show what they’re made of, while France continued to do exactly what they need to do, giving the terrifying impression that they’re hiding the true scale of their power. Also Hugh Lloris got a dragon fly in his mouth. Urgh.  Elsewhere Gary Neville has some interesting moments, there’s an alternative view...

Well! We are through the looking glass now, people. England won a penalty shoot out and are into the quarter finals after a yellow card-laden battle against Colombia. All of our aunts are giddy as we try to rap our heads and croaky throats around it.  Sweden also played a Roger Federer-less Switzerland, and though that was nowhere near as good there’s still plenty of fun to be had in discussi...