Pro Revolution Soccer

Injury Time- David Goldblatt on football in a state of crisis by Pro Revolution Soccer

In this episode of Pro Revolution Soccer, writer and Stadio co-host Musa Okwonga returns to talk about what’s been happening in English and international football over the summer. None of us cared about the FIFA Club World Cup, but we talked about the Lionesses’ surprise win at Euro 2025, the meaning of Michelle Agyemang being the Young Player of the Tournament, and the racist abuse aimed at defen...

In this all-trans episode, Juliet talks to trans writers, activists and footballers Natalie Washington and Arthur Webber about the recent UK Supreme Court ruling on gender identity, and the English and Scottish FA's effective bans on trans and non-binary people playing in their competitions. They discuss the all-channels media campaign against trans people that led to both decisions, the long-term...

This week, Tom and Juliet talk to writer and Stadio co-host Musa Okwonga about the 2024-25 season. They discuss Qatar Sports Investments finally buying the Champions League, and the disconnection between PSG's beautiful football and ugly ownership; why the Abu Dhabi United Group's project at Manchester City floundered this season; Juliet's interest in grass-roots vs. Musa's fascination with the hi...

In this preview of our latest bonus episode about what it means to have a footballing hero, Tom discusses what made Matt Le Tissier so special, and why he was so idolised by Southampton fans (and anyone else who supported a mid-sized provincial club) in the 1990s. To hear the full episode, including Juliet's reflections on Grant Holt as a "working-class hero" and on the UEFA Women's Champions Leag...

Tom and Juliet talk to former Labour Party leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn and his son Ben about their relationship with football – in Ben’s case as a coach, in Jeremy’s as a local and national politician, and in both cases as Arsenal fans and football enthusiasts. Why should people on the left care about football, and the grass roots in particular? What are the challenges facing youth foo...

In this preview of the latest bonus episode of Pro Revolution Soccer about the various culture clashes as English football changed in the 2000s, Tom, Juliet and guest Joe Kennedy (author of Games Without Frontiers and Authentocrats) consider the pivotal figure of 'Big' Sam Allardyce, who went from managing Blackpool in the mid-90s to negotiating deals with a 'fake Sheikh' over a pint of wine in a...

In this month’s free episode, Juliet and Tom talk to David Wearing, author of AngloArabia: Why Gulf Wealth Matters to Britain and assistant professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, about the vexed issue of identity politics as it relates to football, including the Gulf states’ involvement with the sport. We talked about the absurdity and hypocrisy of the demand to ‘Keep Po...

In this preview of our latest subscriber-only episode, Tom, Juliet and guest Kat Sinclair talk to Guardian and When Saturday Comes journalist, and former Orienteer fanzine editor Tom Davies about Leyton Orient manager John Sitton's infamous (and unintentionally hilarious) half-time rant in the BBC documentary Orient: Club for a Fiver (1995). To hear the rest of the episode, in which we discuss hau...

This week, Jon Mackenzie of Tifo Football joins Tom and Juliet to indulge in some Maoist self-criticism, or at least to talk about the tactical development of football over the last twenty years, its increasing use of data and the rise of media platforms that provide complex analysis of top-level matches and clubs. They discuss the demystification of football with relation to thinkers from Gramsci...

In our first ever preview of a subscriber-only episode, we're treating you to our regular News section, taken from 'Italy 1990: Football of the Future', recorded in January 2025. Here, Tom, Juliet and guest Keir Miburn discuss some of football's silliest buggers: Elon Musk's desire to buy Liverpool FC and Reds' fans creative responses; David Beckham's frustration at *still* not receiving a knighth...

In this preview of our subscriber-only episode Italia '90: Football of the Future, Tom, Juliet and guest Keir Milburn discuss the media coverage of England and how it changed during their surprising run to the semi-final, and how this, combined with the authorities’ handling of the team’s travelling supporters after years of hooliganism and the disasters at Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough betwee...

In this first episode of the new, regular series of Pro Revolution Soccer, we – Tom and Juliet – ask ourselves why we still feel such attachment to football despite our disenchantment with the sport, its governance and finances under late capitalism. We look at how the influx of money has fed into a search for perfection in tactics and refereeing that, combined with FIFA and UEFA’s shameless greed...