We Love You Football, We Do

Fair Game ambassador Adrian Goldberg joins Graham and Niall to discuss his new book, ' Where's The Money Gone? '. In the book, Adrian charts his own journey from editing a fanzine when all football clubs were rooted in their communities, to the point where cubs have their own media operations and have become assets, with varying levels of wealthy owners. Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call i...

With just a few days of 2025 left, we gather round the microphones to look back over the past year, a period that saw England win the Women’s Euros again, Crystal Palace upset the odds by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, and the Independent Football Regulator came into force. In this episode, Graham Miller is joined by Kelly Simmons, Dave Kitson and Fair Game CEO Niall Couper. Kelly is...

There isn’t much that makes us as passionate as the World Cup and now the draw has been made our pulses are definitely racing. Joining Graham Miller to talk about the draw on this episode are: Janie Frampton OBE, one of only eight FIFA female referee instructors, Tom Watt, football author and broadcaster, and we get an American perspective from Mike Smith, executive director of Burnley. We talk ab...

At a time when football clubs are using data to make more and more decisions, there are some statistics that are clearly not being noticed or addressed. In men's professional football, 43% of players are black and yet only 4% of the former players employed in the game are black, revealing a lack of diversity among decision makers and people with significant influence. On this episode, we talk to:...

Many Sheffield Wednesday supporters missed the kick-off as the team played their opening fixture in the Championship last weekend, because they were staging a protest against club owner Dejphon Chansiri, who says he is willing to sell but hasn't taken any significant steps towards a sale. The bills haven't been paid and the players haven't received their wages. Wednesday had a transfer embargo ove...

While Morecambe have recently been to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea in the FA Cup, and moved into a new stadium in 2010, there have been frustrations and protests at the club. The current owners are struggling to finalise a sale, a situation that has lasted two-and-a-half years so far. Profits generated by the club in some recent seasons have since been cancelled out by losses, highlighting how...

In this episode, we hear the emotional stories of Bolton Wanderers and Bury, clubs that have both suffered financial problems over the past ten years. Our guests are: Yasmin Qureshi MP for Bolton South, James Frith MP for Bury North, Author and journalist David Conn , Martin Parnell from the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Trust , Mo Dickson, a member of the heritage committee at Bury AFC, and Fair Ga...

Just 12 years after playing in the Premier League, Reading are in League One, attendances are falling and the latest financial figures showed a loss of over £17m for the 2021/22 season. The club has had problems paying staff on time in recent seasons, and there have been points deductions, fines and transfer bans. So far, all attempts to buy the club from Dai Yongge have fallen through. Our guests...

The Football Governance Bill is about to be debated in the House of Lords, with speeches to be made and amendments suggested. In this episode, Graham Miller is joined by David Bernstein, the former chairman of Manchester City, the Football Association, and the current chairman of Wembley Stadium Limited, and Fair Game CEO, Niall Couper. The Bill will have huge consequences for all clubs in the pyr...

Exactly one week before the 2024 General Election, Fair Game brings together a Question Time-style panel to discuss the future of football: - Clive Betts (Labour), former chair of the all-party Parliamentary Football Group, and member of the Football Supporters' Association. - Paul Athans (Conservative), Everton season ticket holder. - Dominic, Lord Addington (Liberal Democrats), previously sat on...

Graham Miller speaks to the former Reading, Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth goalkeeper Shaka Hislop. Shaka enjoyed a great career, playing for Kevin Keegan's 'Entertainers', the team that finished second in the Premier League two years running. He also played in memorable play-off and FA Cup finals for Reading and West Ham, and at the World Cup finals for Trinidad & Tobago. He tells us abou...

As the Football Regulator Bill continues its journey through Parliament, we look at the progress so far, the changes that have been made to the original white paper and the contradictions that still need to be addressed. Graham Miller is joined by Fair Game CEO Niall Couper, Bart Huby, the head of Football Analytics at LCP and Nick McGeehan, a co-founder of FairSquare, which investigates sport, ge...

While we wait for the Football Governance Bill, we talk to David Bernstein, who was chairman of Manchester City between 1998 and 2003, and then chairman of the FA between 2011 and 2013. David has written a book about his time at Manchester City, 'We Were Really There' will be published on March 11, charting the beginning of the journey from the third tier in English football to where they are toda...

The Times Chief Football Writer Henry Winter ,  PoliticsHome reporter Tom Scotson and our very own Niall Couper join Graham Miller to discuss the latest on the appointment of football's independent regulator. The realities of the regulator's relationship with the game are starting to take shape and in this episode we cover a lot of ground, discussing the likely shape the regulator will take, who c...

With the King's Speech expected to announce the implementation of a football regulator, we take a closer look at the Fit And Proper Persons Test and ask how it should be modified to ensure clubs have better ownership. In this episode, Graham Miller talks to Chris Blackhurst, former editor of the Independent and author of The World's Biggest Cash Machine, a book that examines the Glazer family's im...

How often do we get to hear football fans discussing the game with a top referee? In this episode, Graham Miller and Niall Couper talk to Keith Hackett, a man who is every bit as passionate about football as we are. Keith was one of the very best for 15 years and just like us, he wanted to smash his TV screen in frustration when he saw the disallowed Liverpool goal at Tottenham. He tells us the of...

Brody Peart was a key player of Basingstoke Town. His parents are lifelong fans, he was a mascot at the age of two, his aunt is the club secretary, his grandfather is the kit man and his grandmother is on the club's board. At the age of 17, having progressed through Basingstoke's academy and junior teams, he joined Premier League club Brighton in July 2003 but Basingstoke didn't receive a penny fo...

This week, Fair Game begins consulting on our Good Governance Code report. Graham Miller discusses the code and the wider importance of Good Governance throughout football with Radojka Milevic, Mark Middling and Greg Campbell. Mark and Greg worked together on designing the code, while Radojka is the independent chair of the Charity Governance Code. Mark is assistant professor in accounting at Nort...

Have you ever looked at the list of your club's employees in the programme, or the Who's Who page on their website and wondered what the Club Chaplain's role is? Graham Miller went to The Valley to meet Charlton Athletic's chaplain Matt Baker, West Ham United's Philip Wright and Neil Durling from Tonbridge Angels. Three very different clubs, but their chaplains all have important roles to play for...

As the 2023/24 football season is about to begin, we speak to the mayor of Greater Manchester (and Everton fan), Andy Burnham. Andy was part of the Football Task Force in 1998 and went on to become Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, so he brings us his wealth of knowledge on some of the key moments and decisions that led to the current financial flow in English football, plus some of...

The results of the Fair Game Index 2023 are out! All 92 league clubs have been measured, and it is the first chance for any of us to see a snapshot of how clubs compare on Financial Sustainability, Good Governance, Equailty Standards and Fan Engagement. You can see which teams finished top in each of those categories and how your club fared at www.fairgameuk.org/fair-game-index-2023 . In this epis...

When the Football Association allowed Wimbledon Football Club to move to Milton Keynes, the club’s supporters went through an emotional journey. We discuss the grief, anger and ultimate euphoria that led to the formation of AFC Wimbledon and its rise to the Football League with former Dons Trust board member Niall Couper, former Wimbledon player Ian Cooke, the secretary of the Wimbledon Old Player...

This week, we hear the final discussion from Fair Game's Female-Friendly Football Clubs Conference.  Natalie Atkinson, CEO of FC United talks with Lucy Powell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about the opportunities open to the incoming football regulator to improve the experiences and involvement of women in all aspects of the game.

Graham Miller delves into the fascinating story of Darlington and how the club weather the storm of multiple bad owners. Joining us are Wayne Raper the former chair of the Supporters Group, and David Steel the vice chair of the Supporters Trust.

David Pleat talks all things Luton with Fair Game's Graham Miller. Tune in