The Lowdown

Today's guest Jon MacKenzie is the face and voice of TIFO Football. He has been regarded as one of the finest minds on football tactics in recent years. It was fascinating to spend an hour in Jon's company going in depth on his topic of choice. Here we cover everything from hybrid pressing, Jon's fascination for the out of possession phase, Liverpool's evolution, Michel's new age football at Giron...

Currently the allure of investing in Premier League football is as strong as ever. This has coincided with a rise of American investment into English football with 50% of Premier League clubs having some form of American investment. To understand this growing trend who better a guest to invite on than one of the leaders responsible for attracting the best talent into the boardrooms and also Head o...

"Football needs to go back to the creative players, football is entertainment, if you cannot entertain the spectators what do you got?" Today's guest is Al-Wasl Head of Youth Development; Michel Mommertz. Meeting Michel time aplenty in Dubai over coffee I thought it was just time to host him and share his wonderful story to date. Michel doesn't do half measures, the youngest professional footballe...

Today's episode is an enlightening conversation with world respected football journalist Ben Jacobs. In today's age of bottomless content and ITK's galore it can be often tough to identify the signal amongst the noise. However we have no such problem with today's guest. With a punditry career spanning 15+ years Ben takes us through many of the principles which have fuelled his ascent and enabled h...

"Put yourself on the path to the career you always wanted" In today's episode I am joined by Daniel Geey who here details his rise from car parts lawyer to one of the most respected and trusted lawyers in the game. An inspiration to many with his book "Done Deal", he has followed it up with his latest book; "Build the Invisible". At the top of the iceberg people see only the deals and success. Her...

"If you do the work, know yourself, know your team, then you can grow your team." Orlando SC have undergone quite the transformation over these past few years and have become known as a perennial title contender in the MLS. Today's guest David Cosgrave has played a huge part in redefining service excellence for the Florida outfit in their quest to build a top class culture. "Find a Way" has become...

Just over one month ago Bolton had won 7-0 at home in front of 25,000 people continuing their promotion push to the Championship. It is a far cry to a club just over a few years prior who had just come out of administration, straggled at the bottom of League 2. When a situation is as ground zero where do you even begin? For the new Sporting Director; Chris Markham it was quite the remit however fe...

The year John Stones had the most amount of successful dribbles in a Champions League Final since Lionel Messi, 2023 was a year for the ages. From Gateshead to Nice the universal search for control took on a new level and has appeared in many shapes and forms. Box midfields, hybrid pressing are on the menu today as we go through some of the tactical innovations and setups which have caught our eye...

Meeting Frazer pitch side in Philadelphia last summer it was clear that he has been on a special journey with an upward trajectory evidenced further since which is showing no signs of slowing down. Going through the ages and stages of development, Frazer has left no stone unturned in his quest to better himself as an individual. Luckily for us some of those lessons cascaded into coaching and today...

"The future of football is going faster and faster, scanning becomes so important..." For those who are curious, life often serves the best returns. What was a deficiency in Karl Aksum's playing career became a topic of fascination for the newly turned coach in his early days. Studying thousands of game situations Karl soon became inspired to put pen to paper on some groundbreaking research on vis...

"The football we want, the football we need." This Tuesday December 12th and Wednesday December 13th World Football Summit (WFS) will run their annual Asian event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. WFS see themselves as "a community of leaders who share knowledge and ideas to drive the evolution of the industry both business and values". At the heart of this is co-founder Jan Alessie who alongside Marian Ot...

"All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town". - Leonard Tolstoy Today's guest is one of football's expert storytellers. Throughout time Guillem Balague has shared the stories of many of football's greats, expertly sharing insights and humanizing the person behind the performer. So it was about time I figured to turn the tables on Guillem and ask...

"Football is conquering the world at an unstoppable speed and at the moment there is a dysfunction between the audience and practice in some countries." - Arsene Wenger. The man who's role it is to minimize that gap is today's guest; Matthew Clement who is also the FIFA Training Centre Manager. From the conceptualisation of a new football language to overseeing the development of FIFA's new compet...

"Football is not just about a result, it is a way of living." On December 2nd Juan Roman Riquelme will run against Andres Ibarra for the Boca Juniors presidency. Today's guest Gustav Salvestrini is a Boca Socio and member also of Ibarra's party. Ibarra's campaign push centres around the need to commercialise Boca, modernise revenue structures and return Boca to one of the top 5 clubs in World Foot...

“You want to be a builder...” Mark Cartwright is the Sporting Director of Huddersfield Town. Mapping out his pathway from player to agent and now the current day, he joined us to distill some of his most pertinent learnings to date. Navigating change, working across every facet of the organisation Mark has learned to adapt and evolve quickly across his time at Stoke City, USL and now Huddersfield....

David Garcia is the founder of "It's Just a Sport". One's coaching journey will pull and drag you a thousand different ways. In many a different direction and amid a war of attention what football stands out most to you? Furthermore how do you create a methodology and bring this to life? After a while searching down the path less trodden David Garcia has alchemised plenty of lessons inspiring thou...

"Take care of the game and the business will take care of itself."I for one cannot wait to attend this year's SoccerEx in Miami. To preview this year's offering, CEO Patrick McCreanor joined the show. From it's debut event in Wembley right through to a landmark 50th convention in it's adopted city of Miami SoccerEx has cemented itself as the world's largest football business event. As over 600 clu...

"The objective is to win but at what cost...." Jonathon O'Neill is the co-founder of HeadCoach. Turning potential into performance HeadCoach is an app which allows you to master your mental, emotional and social skillsets. At a time where coaches and players bandwith have never been as stretched the app seeks to optimize and enhance your ability to reflect, realign and refocus. A tool which we mus...

"There is always a next step..." Darren Powell's mantra for player development is too something which he holds close to his heart. Now the Director of Player Development for Inter Miami Darren is responsible for overseeing the transition of players from their MLS Next side into the professional game. Understandably and not entirely an exact science, Darren and Inter Miami have received plaudits ga...

"Adapt or else...." Yiannis Tsalatsidis is the Technical Director & First Team Coach of FC London. In this specially recorded podcast Yiannis takes us on quite the football journey through his lens over the course of 2 hours. Empowered by a duty to develop beyond the regular realm Yiannis' work can best be described as player centred. Armed by this mission, it is with this very unique and comp...

Ravi Ramineni is the co-founder and CEO of src | ftbl . He has also been at the forefront of the football analytics boom over the last decade. A former employee of Bing and Microsoft Ravi played a huge role in the success of the Seattle Sounders organisation rapidly ascending from analyst to VP in the organisation. In his own words the journey has been “a steep learning curve” and here Ravi reflec...

"High Performance comes from the mindset of it cannot be done alone." Today's guest is Max Lankheit, Head of Performance & Innovation at the Philadelphia Union. Working across the Bundesliga, MLS with a stint in MLB, Max has over a decade's worth experience in sporting performance. Finding his true passion in building and leading teams, Max joins us on the show today to share some principles g...

In 1995 Bruno Costa was a budding 15 year old intern departing home with the aim of working in professional football. What ensued has been a story of movie like proportions taking us from the Amazon rainforest to Silicon Valley featuring a supporting cast of Brazilian legends. Amid political turmoil and public scrutiny in his early years as a leader Bruno has succeeded in helping proliferate the B...

"There is no point in being a creative when you are fearful." Today I am joined by the magical Pat Nevin. The former Scottish international who amassed 850+ appearances playing for the likes of Chelsea, Everton and Tranmere. Known widely today for his work in broadcasting Pat was a player beyond his time and an influential figure in his playing days. His latest book "Football & How to Survive...

Over 25 years ago Marc Nicholls arrived in the US from the UK with a suitcase and aspiration to coach in football full time. All these years later he is held in high regard as one of the most esteemed player and coach developers on the North American continent. Wearing many different hats he soon became aquainted with the North American game and his work was recognised being named U.S. Soccer Acad...