We Welcome Your Teams - Football as seen by stadium announcers

A very special guest joins us for this episode, voice of the last men's World Cup final in Qatar, Steven Peios. As FIFA's Matchday Announcer, he's covered all the major tournaments including the World Cups, Asia Cups, Club World Cups and more...and when he's not there, he's at Western Sydney Wanderers. Hosts Rich Hurst from West Brom and Alan Keegan from Man Utd chat throu...

Happy New Year! Our first podcast of 2024 sees hosts Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Manchester United speak to Morecambe announcer of 30 plus years - Mark Swindlehurst. Mark's announced for them in different leagues, at varying levels of success from inside a little red hut with a cassette player to a slightly more up to date kit at the new Mazuma stadium. Plus there are new tunes...

What's it like to be the stadium announcer for Scotland at Hampden Park? Graeme Easton is the man with the job and he's also recently started doing it for Hearts too! That meant there was loads for Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd to chat to him about around great games he's worked for and great music that's created special atmospheres. Once again there's...

Brad Varnam has been at Leicester City for 26 years and counting. Join fellow stadium announcers Rich Hurst (West Brom) and Alan Keegan (Man Utd) as they chat about his time on the mic at Filbert Street and The King Power Stadium. He's got some great stories to tell about how he got the job, where he sits in the ground and what it was like marking their Premier League title win. Once again, w...

Promotion's, broken records and moonlighting at City - it's all in the story of Andy Stoke's time as announcer at Meadow Lane. We hear about how he got the job, the great times he's seen and how he creates that atomsphere at Notts County with the 4th, yes 4th, best sound system in the UK. Rich Hurst from West Brom and Alan Keegan from Man Utd quiz Andy about all things stadium...

Join us to speak to Richard Reynolds, stadium announcer at Brighton, about what it's like being the voice of the Amex. For the first episode of season 5, Rich of West Brom and Alan of Manchester United interview Richard about how he got the job, what tunes he loves to play and some of the clangers he's dropped down the years. The guys at Shoot Music are supporting us once again, and for...

Join us as we find out what it was like for Man City announcer Alex Kirkley to be asked to announce at the Champion's League final in Instanbul last month. Alongside Rich Hurst who is the announcer at West Brom was regular co-host Alan Keegan, Voice of Old Trafford - Manchester United. It made for a great episode having Alex tell us how it was and Alan reminiscing about his experience when Ut...

We welcome back a previous guest on the pod Matt Crawley, announcer at Luton Town. We talk to him and his co-announcer Darren Jones about what that day was like and what it means to have won promotion to the big time. There's some big news from Matt about next season and of course, more top tunes from the @sportplaylists Stadium Chart. Join Rich Hurst from West Brom and co-host Alan Keegan as...

Fresh from his team winning promotion to the Championship, we're chatting to man on the mic at Home Park, Plymouth Argyle's Gary McLean. In his 13 years at the club, he's been through some highs and lows, from interviewing Neil Warnock to getting caught out by a live mic that wasn't supposed to be. Hosts Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd ask Gary about all the...

We're back and chatting to the man that is the voice of St James' Park (NUFC), Rob Byron. He's been the announcer for Newcastle United for 25 years and just loves every second of his time on the mic. Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man United chat to him about music they play there, managers and players he's dealt with and his favourite matches on the tannoy. There&a...

In this last episode of 2022, Rich Hurst from West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd interview Weston-super-Mare's Tim Clarke about being the announcer at the Optima Stadium. Tim is the first announcer we've ever had who is in panto and sings in spare time, and has been known to sign whilst announcing at the Southern Premier league side. We also talk about how he got the job and the work h...

Ian Hawkins has been the announcer at Burton Albion for 30 years. Doubling up on the press team has made it quite the role for him but it's announcing the goals, teams and best of all the subs that he loves most - especially as the subs are sponsored by Doggy Daycare Burton...it's TRUE! Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man United put the questions to Ian and share their own sto...

Kenny Boxshall has been a stadium announcer since 1982 and his tales of doing it back in the day when he began at Stockport County are priceless. Join Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd as they chat to Kenny about what it's like to be 40 years in the job! Also the team @shootmusic have sent some more new tunes to review for your next matchday playlist. Twitter @announcerspod I...

John has been announcing for over 20 years, covering Sunderland for a long time and now at 'Boro. Join Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd to talk about his favourite moments as the man with the mic.  He's had Hollywood stars for the half time draw and been insulted by Brian Clough and seen some incredible moments at Ayrsome Park, The Riverside, Roker Park at the Stadium o...

Mark Dennison has been the stadium announcer at The City Ground for over 20 years and finally gets to see his side compete in the Premier League. What better time for Rich Hurst from West Brom and Alan Keegan from Man Utd to chat to him about his time on the mic and what it means to be a Premier League announcer. Mark's got some great stories about when he joined the club, his favourite momen...

Join us as we speak with two announcers who had EXTRAORDINARY ends to their seasons. Lance Cook who was the announcer on the last day of the season at Bristol Rovers when they won 7-0 to secure automatic promotion.  Graeme White who rode the rollercoaster of beating the drop working for his beloved Everton. Both are still savouring some incredible moments on the mic from the 21/22 campaign so we w...

Join Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd as they talk to their stadium announcing counterpart at Leeds United - Leigh Nicholson. Leigh's been in the job for a few years now, including their recent promotion to the Premier League. He's been on the mic for some great games and incredible moments. We got some great stories, including which song the police asked him NOT to pla...

Rich and Alan meet Dave Trumper who takes on the 'voice of god' role at Portsmouth. A club with a rich tradition of great support, Dave's been conducting the crowd for almost 10 years. The guys chat about why he loves the job, how he ended up on the mic and the moments he's loved being there. There's also a review of the latest tunes you can get from sportplaylists.com to...

We're off to Sydney, Australia to talk with the announcer at West Sydney Wanderers FC, Michael Turner. They're a fairly new club in the A-League but Mike's already had some great times working there. He tells Rich and Alan about how he got the job, his favourite memories and a great story about the time he ruffled Robbie Fowler's feathers. There's also a review of 3 more t...

Join Rich Hurst from West Brom and and Alan Keegan of Man Utd as they talk to Charlton Athletic announcer, Brian Cole. He talks about his two spells at the club, including WHY it's two spells and how much he loves his job as stadium announcer at The Valley. There's all the Wembley stories, plus his favourite matches and some great stuff about what he thinks is the best thing about being...

After a rather busy summer, we managed to nail down Kris Temple, stadium announcer at Wembley to ask about just how different it is doing it at national level rather than club level. It got detailed...really detailed...but Rich Hurst of West Brom and Alan Keegan of Man Utd were all in!  Discover his enviable seat he had for those England matches of Euro 2020 and hear just how hard it was staying n...

Rich Hurst from West Brom and Alan Keegan from Man Utd chat to Gary Sinclair, one of the longest serving stadium announcers in the UK. He's been at Sheffield United for years, and has seen some real highs and lows. We talk about his best moments, the ones he'd rather forget  and his foray into the charts with The Gaz Band. Listen out for some new tunes from the guys at Shoot Music who pr...

We're back for series 3 and it's straight into a big one, Mike Rankine, man on the mic at Crystal Palace FC. Mike started in the season the club almost went into administration so fair to say he's seen a bit of drama beyond just the great matches he's hosted. He talks about working during Covid and the time the fans started a petition to get him re-instated when he 'went u...

Rich and Alan thought they should have a chat about the last series, then decided to open it up for other guests to join them...and record it. Alan told us what it was like with fans back at Old Trafford plus being in the new Alex Ferguson movie. Lance Cook from Bristol Rovers stepped up and brought some great stories, including one about a last minute panic at last year's Remembrance game. T...

Peter Gilham is about to complete his 52nd season as announcer at Brentford. It makes him the longest serving stadium announcer in the UK (to the best of our knowledge, let us know if it's YOU...email richard@giftedgab.co.uk!) Rich Hurst from West Brom and Alan Keegan from Man Utd interview Peter about why he loves the job so much and what's special about doing it. He's got some gre...