In this preview of our latest bonus episode about what it means to have a footballing hero, Tom discusses what made Matt Le Tissier so special, and why he was so idolised by Southampton fans (and anyone else who supported a mid-sized provincial club) in the 1990s. To hear the full episode, including Juliet's reflections on Grant Holt as a "working-class hero" and on the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-finals, go to https://www.patreon.com/c/ProRevolutionSoccer/home to subscribe for as little as £3.50 per month.
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6:11
Football for All: An interview with Ben & Jeremy Corbyn
Tom and Juliet talk to former Labour Party leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn and his son Ben about their relationship with football – in Ben’s case as a coach, in Jeremy’s as a local and national politician, and in both cases as Arsenal fans and football enthusiasts. Why should people on the left care about football, and the grass roots in particular? What are the challenges facing youth football, and how can community organising and other political action overcome them? Who won when Militant played Labour Briefing in the 1980s, and does Jeremy own any Football Casual gear? Find out about all this and more in our wide-ranging conversation – and subscribe for bonus episodes at https://www.patreon.com/c/ProRevolutionSoccer.
Recorded by Ilia Rogatchevski at the Resonance 104.4fm in London, and produced by Oliver Kealey.
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1:16:10
PREVIEW: 21st Century Boys: English football in the 2000s
In this preview of the latest bonus episode of Pro Revolution Soccer about the various culture clashes as English football changed in the 2000s, Tom, Juliet and guest Joe Kennedy (author of Games Without Frontiers and Authentocrats) consider the pivotal figure of 'Big' Sam Allardyce, who went from managing Blackpool in the mid-90s to negotiating deals with a 'fake Sheikh' over a pint of wine in a Chinese restaurant as England manager, twenty years later. What impact did Big Sam's persona and footballing style (and especially his Bolton Wanderers team) have on English football? How much did he feed into changes that have apparently professionalised the Premier League, making it far less personality-driven?
Hear the whole episode by subscribing at https://www.patreon.com/c/ProRevolutionSoccer/ for as little as £3.50 per month.
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8:52
Football and Identity Politics
In this month’s free episode, Juliet and Tom talk to David Wearing, author of AngloArabia: Why Gulf Wealth Matters to Britain and assistant professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, about the vexed issue of identity politics as it relates to football, including the Gulf states’ involvement with the sport. We talked about the absurdity and hypocrisy of the demand to ‘Keep Politics Out of Football’, how football is structured upon ‘identity politics’ of region and nation, the importance of symbolism, some histories of racism, homophobia and sexism in football and the successes and failures of attempts to combat them.
In News, we talked about Manchester United’s ludicrously on-the-nose dystopian circus tent and how Profit and Sustainability Rules might usher in another wave of new super-stadia, and congratulated Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on accruing their first trophy.
In our football weekends, David lamented Charlton Athletic’s ongoing misfortunes, Juliet went to Rapid Vienna and saw a fox delay the kick-off at Tranmere Rovers, while Tom saw his son score five goals across two Under-8 and Under-9 matches rather than watching Southampton.
Read Tom in this month’s edition of When Saturday Comes: https://www.wsc.co.uk/shop/wsc-452/
Subscribe to us on Patreon for £3.50 to get an extra episode every month: https://www.patreon.com/c/ProRevolutionSoccer
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1:12:01
PREVIEW: Bring Yer Dinner: English football and the media since the 1980s
In this preview of our latest subscriber-only episode, Tom, Juliet and guest Kat Sinclair talk to Guardian and When Saturday Comes journalist, and former Orienteer fanzine editor Tom Davies about Leyton Orient manager John Sitton's infamous (and unintentionally hilarious) half-time rant in the BBC documentary Orient: Club for a Fiver (1995).
To hear the rest of the episode, in which we discuss hauntology, 1985 as a pivotal year for English football culture, the influence of When Saturday Comes (the magazine, not the Sean Bean film) and more, subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/c/ProRevolutionSoccer.
A football podcast that doesn't leave politics at the turnstile, hosted by Juliet Jacques and Tom Williams, with theme music by Matt Huxley, and produced by Oliver Kealey. Generously supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust at https://www.lipman-miliband.org.uk. Support us and access extra episodes via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/ProRevolutionSoccer, and follow us on BlueSky at prorevsoccer.bsky.social.
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