Sport and Life

Jon is a highly treasured local journalist who’s been covering Gloucestershire sport, in particular Cheltenham Town Football Club, for decades. He is also a journalism lecturer at The University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham. **** For the free mentoring session with Anthony Astbury of The Whole Man Academy: https://go.once.hub.com/wholemanacademy

Chris Skudder is a distinguished broadcast journalist reporting and presenting for Sky for the best part of three decades. He’s also reported from every World Cup since 1994 and we caught up with head ahead of flying out to Qatar. We also discuss Chris’ book, which covers his World Cup globetrotting - Underdogs and Newshounds. ****** NB: for free mentoring session with Anthony Astbury of The Whole...

Tim Abraham is a distinguished sports journalist, working in broadcasting across radio and TV for three decades. He is arguably best known for 24 years as a reporter for Sky Sports and nearly two decades as Sky Sports News Cricket Correspondent covering the England team. He followed England on 27 Test tours. Tim is now a Senior Lecturer in Journalism/Sports Journalism at Liverpool John Moores Univ...

Wade Elliott rose from non-league football to play professionally for Bournemouth, Burnley, Birmingham City and Bristol City. After coaching in the academies at Bristol City and Stoke City, he became Cheltenham Town manager in the summer of 2022.******* For the free mentoring session with Anthony Astbury of The Whole Man Academy: https://go.oncehub.com/wholemanacademy

Matthew Mansell was a keen cricketer before becoming an academy player at Bath Rugby Club. He went to play professionally in France and then pursued a career in finance. He left that career to pursue a life as an entrepreneur in the health and fitness industry.  Matt is the founder of Athlo app: this app that allows gym-members and class package holders to rent out their membership to other g...

Gloucester’s Christian Leroy Duncan defends his Cage Warriors Middleweight title November 12th in Manchester. Twelve days out from fight night, Christian came to my house in Cheltenham to chat through his training camp, his youth dream of being a pro basketball player and where he is on the road to becoming a UFC fighter. Follow Christian on Instagram ( and DM him for tickets): @christianleroydunc...

Thought-provoking chat with respected Personal Trainer and Fitness Educator Ross Mitchell. Ross talks about his perspective that people often limit their fitness and health horizons out of fear of receiving negative opinions from their (unfit) peers. This lead to a broader conversation of how we approach and use other people’s opinions constructively without being overly emotional and reactive ***...

Ash is the founder and editor of The Stroud Times and has been a reporter in Gloucestershire for several decades, covering, in particular, Forest Green Rovers. He commentates on the club for BBC radio too. **************** NB: for your complimentary session with The Whole Man Academy: https://go.oncehub.com/wholemanacademy

Kate is a former presenter colleague of mine at Sky Sports News. She’s also a host of The Football Ramble podcast and has contributed to Talk Sport Radio and BBC 5 Live radio. Kate writes for The Metro newspaper. Kate used to be a presenter for beINSports in Doha, Qatar and here we talk -among other things - about an upcoming documentary Kate is working on ahead of the World Cup including the rela...

As a former Sports Journalist and TV Producer, Anna enjoyed a 17-year career at Sky Sports in varying senior roles. The most prominent position with the broadcaster was founding and producing the Sportswomen programme. An industry leader in women’s sport journalism, she also has broad and deep experience of the corporate world as Sky’s former Head of Internal Communications. Anna is a Non-Executiv...

Shane played professional football for Cheltenham Town and Bradford City before injury abruptly curtailed his career. Shane is now a property developer and coaches other developers through his company @leckhamptonpropertygroup Here we talk about the anxiety in the UK economy at the moment and how that might affect house prices etc. ********NB: for the complimentary session with The Whole Man Acade...

David was a fine youth footballer and was at West Ham up until U16s, but opted to go the academic route. David played football (with podcast host Ed) and studied at Loughborough University before working as a Marco Sales Trader at several top tier investment banks. He is currently Director of Institutional Sales at Crypto Tech Start-Up Paradigm. ** NB: for complimentary session with Anthony Astbur...

Martin St Quinton is a highly successful entrepreneur and is Chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse and Gloucester Rugby Club. In this conversation we discuss the contrasting fortunes of rugby and horse racing during the pandemic and why Martin is bullish about rugby’s prospects despite the recent financial challenges. NB: for the complimentary mentoring session with Anthony Astbury of The Whole Man Ac...

Phil came up through the West Ham United academy and played for Bournemouth (in the team that knocked Man United out of the FA Cup in 1984), Wrexham, Cardiff City, and Newport County. Since retiring from football at the age of 27, Phil has worked as a self-employed businessman and is the Principal at @go2mortgages, a family-run business in Cheltenham. **** NB: for the complimentary mentoring sessi...

After studying and playing rugby at Oxford University, Luke played professional rugby for Harlequins and Nottingham before founding ProverbSkin & PINKS BOUTIQUE with his wife, Kirsty. We talk health, sustainability, transitioning from rugby into full-time entrepreneurship, building a business alongside his wife, and how Luke’s studies into human evolution informs how he understands people and the...

Mark Alleyne was an all-rounder who played for England and captained Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He later became head coach at Gloucestershire becoming the first Black British head coach in the county game. Mark continues to work as professional coach - currently for Welsh Fire in The Hundred - and also works at Marlborough College. *****. For the free mentoring session with Anthony Astbu...

Andy Tucker played professional and semi-professional football, including spells at Cheltenham Town and Gloucester City. For three decades he has also built a successful football coaching business in Gloucestershire and beyond through Andy Tucker Soccer Camps. He also franchises his toddler training programme - Supa Strikers - to coaches around the UK. Website: https://www.atsoccercamps.co.uk/page...

Gérard Jones is the current Director of Coaching at MLS Sporting Kansas City. He is a UEFA A Licensed Coach with over 14 years experience working in professional football as a former Academy Coach at Rochdale, U21 Assistant at Bradford, Head of Coaching at Bristol Rovers and most recently an Elite Coach Educator with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.  Gérard is the founder of ULearnbly, digi...

Curtis Woodhouse played Premier League football for Birmingham City and played for a number of big clubs including Sheffield United, Peterborough United and Hull City. But in his mid 20s Curtis left professional football to become a professional boxer - and on the 22nd of February 2014 he became British Super Lightweight Champion.  Curtis has continued to work in football and boxing coaching...

Chris Coley, former head of marketing at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and all around Gloucestershire Sports Aficionado talks about the 150th anniversary of Gloucestershire playing games at Cheltenham College.  For the free mentor session with Anthony Astbury of the Whole Man Academy: https://go.oncehub.com/wholemanacademy

Todd Gleave, 27, has played professional rugby union for London Irish, Gloucester, Ospreys and, most recently, The Dallas Jackals in The USA. From his Cheltenham base he has also founded The Stubborn Rhino Coffee company, which delivers high-quality coffee to events around the UK.  To follow Todd on Instagram @todd_gleave and, for more on the coffee company: https://www.stubbornrhino.com/ NB:...

Eric is a Bostonian based in London and is Co-Founder & CEO of Rival, the ex CMO of 11:FS and MD of VaynerMedia. See more of Eric's bio here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericfulwiler/?originalSubdomain=uk Here we talk about:  * Daily routines - the need for a structure, but also flexibility. * Being an introverted leader and how Eric manages his time and energy with that in mind. * Lessons from Sp...

Carlton Palmer had a long and distinguished playing career as a midfielder and sometime defender in the Premier League, notably for Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds. He also played for England and has worked as a manager. Here we discuss: * Carlton's experience of moving back to the UK after working and living in Dubai and China. * The cost of living in the UK. * The balance between fitness and fun....

Lyle Weir is a strength and conditioning coach, specialising in training MMA fighters at his father (former UFC fighter) Mark Weir's gym in Gloucester. He is also a pilot and is raising money for mental health charity The Mix ( https://www.themix.org.uk/) by flying around the UK and surrounding isles in a single engine plane from September 1st 2022 - 4000nm and 40 hours of flight time in total. To...

Luke Varney had a long and distinguished playing career - from non league to The Premier League and is now in the early stages of a career in fitness. In this conversation:  * We reflect on a summer of change at Cheltenham Town FC * Some of the big transfers in The Premier League * Training clients who are looking for fat loss and the lifestyle/holistic advice required to help them achieve the goa...