The Lowdown

David Dwinger is the founder of JOGO; an AI powered platform which aims to make talent development data & technology insightful and accessible to players and coaches all over the world. David has a brilliant seat at the top of the technology revolution that is gripping the football industry. Despite barely being 13 months old JOGO is now working with 65 academies worldwide and are involved with fe...

Tim Keech is the co-founder of MRKT Insights; a data focused football consultancy who supply data science, technical scouting, and recruitment services to football clubs and ownership groups . 90% of the clubs they have worked with have improved their league finishing position in the subsequent season. Tim joined me recently to explain how clubs can win infinitely and why and how an aligned strate...

We have a special episode this week as we dissect the upcoming Champions League Final clash between Manchester City & Chelsea. An advocate of positional play and an alumni of the Ralf Rangnick coaching school there are few better to preview this intriguing tactical clash than Holstein Kiel U-17 coach Christian Dobrick. Listen to find out more including; - How Pep Guardiola built a collective bigge...

John Muller is author of the “Space Space Space” newsletter; a weekly publication musing about data and tactical analysis within football. For quite some time now I have followed John's work and there are few better qualified to give a breakdown on the modern state of data and tactical analysis within football. Listen to this episode to hear more about; - How a move to South America and watching P...

Essam Alsuhaibani is the Regional Development Manager for Asia at FIFA. In this episode Essam speaks to me about his journey to date and why you should pursue your passion. From growing up in Saudi fascinated with the English and Argentinian game, Essam pursued his curiosity. This eventually takes us to the current day where Essam leads a department at FIFA responsible for developing the Asian gam...

Jason Stephens is the co-founder of “Modern Football Group” and is a lecturer in International Football Business at UCFB Wembley. There are few people more qualified than Jason to speak about the global game. The long list of clubs and organisations Jason has worked for includes Charlton, Sao Paulo, Portland Timbers, San Francisco 49ers, Inter Milan, the Cook Islands and Hashtag United. Neverthele...

Hugo Scheckter is the founder of “The Player Care Group” who are the UK’s first consultancy group focused on Player Care, Team Operations and Player Wellbeing within sporting environments across the world. Yet what exactly is player care? Hugo joined me to reflect upon his career to date and discuss his journey which has included successful periods with Southampton and West Ham. As Hugo begins a n...

Eric Gottschalk is the President & CEO of United City Football Club, a Philippine football powerhouse. Last year Eric was part of the MMC Sportz Asia ownership group which acquired “Ceres Negros” a club on the brink of insolvency. Close to a year and a Philippine Championship later Eric sat down with me to discuss the ins and outs of owning and running a football club. We discussed topics such as;...

CONIFA, the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, is the football federation for all associations outside FIFA. It’s a global acting non-profit organization that supports representatives of international football teams from nations, de-facto nations, regions, minority peoples and sports isolated territories. CONIFA was founded on the 7th of June 2013, and organized his first World Fo...

As a new MLS season approaches I sat down with Joe Lowery to preview the upcoming season. Alongside his knowledge of the MLS, Joe has a keen eye for the tactical side of the game. Throughout this episode it was interesting to learn of the strides which MLS teams have made in this area over the past few years. Furthermore we discussed the ins and outs heading into this new season and what neutrals...

A lot of people think; “Wow you work in football!” but what does the reality actually look like? Recently I had the pleasure to sit down with Chris Rush as he reflected upon his 15 years working in professional football at clubs such as Middlesbrough, Manchester City and most recently Blackburn. The interview focuses on the realities working as support staff in the professional game and the circum...

Interview with Valencia Academy Director; Sean Bai covering all topics on youth development including; - Integrating ideas from other industries into football - Sean's advice to growing academies - Behind the scenes into the organizational change at Valencia - Building a culture during Covid - Their process in identifying and developing a youth player - Academies as an immune system to FFP & Europ...

Interview with UEFA A Candidate and Recruitment & Performance Analysis Consultant at MRKT Insights; Chris Summersell on all things Tottenham Hotspur including; - Growing up with Spurs - The Pochettino years - Should we cut Mourinho some slack? - What tactical tweaks he would make - Who Spurs should be targeting in this summer's transfer window? - What constitutes success at Spurs? Chris' Twitter;...

Interview with Ben Lyttleton, author of 'Twelve Yards: The Art & Psychology of the Perfect Penalty' & ‘Edge: What Business Can Learn from Football’ covering all topics including; - Football as a tool for education & self-improvement - How to measure success? - The next frontier of talent development - Tuchel, Deschamps & developing the individual - How Lionel Messi can improve at penalties? - Resi...

Interview with Andrei Angelescu of UEFA & the Romanian Football Federation on all things fan engagement and TV rights in football including; - The commercialisation of today's fan - 2021 trends - Premier League TV Rights - La Liga's international growth strategy - European Super League - Challenges in staging the 2020 Euro's Andrei's LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreiangelescu/ Mihai Neş...

Interview with Jasmine Baba on all things German Football including; - Finding a niche within the industry - Women in football - Joachim Low & German football's equivalent of musical chairs - Covid's effect on tactics - Julian Nagelsmann's next move - Gladbach & Arsene Wenger?! - Which German grounds Jasmine is most looking forward to visiting Jasmine's Twitter; https://twitter.com/_jasminebaba?la...

Interview with David Mooney of the “Blue Moon Podcast” & The Athletic's “Why Always Us?” on all things including; - The Kevin Keegan years - Maine Road & Binliner's - The 2008 Takeover - Pep Guardiola - That 21 game winning run - How do City win the Champions League? David's Twitter; https://twitter.com/DavidMooney?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Blue Moon Podcast; https://p...

Interview with Smarterscout's Dan Altman on football data's revolution covering topics such as; - The origins of Smarterscout - Moving from economics to football - What we can do v What we can implement - Differences between roster building in the Premier League & MLS - Insight into Wayne Rooney's move to DC United - Rise of US private equity firms in European football Smarterscout Twitter; https:...

Interview and reflections with Lee Johnson on a coaching journey spanning four different continents covering topics such as; - Societal differences - Adapting to different cultures - “Shoulders of Giants” - What it was like to coach Chelsea's golden generation - Flying 95 times in one year - Learning to enjoy the moment Lee's Twitter; https://twitter.com/leejohnson80?lang=en Lee's LinkedIn; https:...

Interview with Oakland S.C Technical Director; Benno Nagel on all things U.S Soccer including; - Oakland - “Seeing is believing” - How to establish a soccer club - Building an authentic culture - U.S Development Pathways - 2026 World Cup & Legacy Benno's Twitter; https://twitter.com/benno_nagel?lang=en Benno's LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/benno-nagel-78073b122/ Timestamps; 00:00 - 07:29 -...

Interview with Alan Feehely on all things La Liga including; - The Revista de La Liga years - Spanish football's ending dominance - Barcelona - Zidane's future - Andalusian football - Luis Enrique & the resurrection of Jesus Alan's Twitter; https://twitter.com/azulfeehely?lang=en Timestamps; 00:00 - 06:42 - Football journalism & Nostalgia 06:43 - 12:26 - End of Spanish football's dominance? 12:27...

Interview with Casey Evans of the Stretford Paddock on all things including; - The Sir Alex Ferguson years - Why he's the Darren Fletcher of the Paddock - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's future - VAR, Peter Walton & Irish Dolphins - Ed Woodward & Technical Director's - Preview of Sunday's Manchester Derby Casey's Twitter; https://twitter.com/casey evans ?lang=en Casey's YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/cha...

Interview with Holstein Kiel U-17 coach Christian Dobrick on all things including; - His coaching journey - Positional Play - Pep Guardiola & Man City tactics - German coaching's dynasty - Bundesliga ambitions - What football can learn from ultimate frisbee Christian's Twitter; https://twitter.com/chrdob?lang=en Christian's LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-dobrick/ Timestamps; 00:00...

Interview with Liverpool's throw in coach Thomas Gronnemark on all things including; - His footballing journey - Overcoming obstacles & using failure as feedback - Similarities between Liverpool, Ajax & RB Leipzig - That phonecall from Jürgen Klopp - How to coach world class players - What a typical throw in session looks like - Pursuing your passion Thomas' Website; https://thomasgronnemark.com/...

Interview with 'Wings of Change' author Karan Tejwani on all things Red Bull including; - Origin of Red Bull's relationship with football - How exactly does a multi-club model work? - Ralf Rangnick and his influence on German football - Recruitment & Succession Planning within Salzburg & Leipzig - Julian Nagelsmann & Jesse Marsch's futures - The next evolution for RB Salzburg & RB Leipzig 'Wings o...