New Episode every Thursday. Just search for Outside the Box wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 2 available now! In the first episode of a new fly-on-the wall series, Jermain Defoe travels back to the estate in East London where he grew up, exploring how his past experiences will affect his future as he begins a journey into the world of football management. From the house he grew up in and memories of his grandparents, to games of football in the street and a trip back to his old...

The final episode of MOT begins back in January with the transfer window signing of Georgie Kelly, the top goalscorer in Irish football. It then cuts to the touchline at Gillingham with 11 minutes of the League One season remaining as Rotherham manager Paul Warne brings Kelly on for his Millers debut. Leading 1-0 but under heavy pressure, can the former Bohemians striker score a crucial second goal and fire his side back in the Championship at the first time of asking? After the full-time...

In the penultimate episode, it’s all systems go for the final game of the season as Rotherham travel to relegation-threatened Gillingham knowing a win will put them back into the Championship. However, should MK Dons beat promotion rivals Plymouth and Rotherham fail to win, then Paul Warne’s exhausted side will fall into the lottery that is the playoffs. The manager goes to visit his chairman Tony Stewart to discuss tactics ahead of the game, before a scare at the training ground forces...

It’s halftime at the Stadium of Light and Rotherham lead by a goal to nil against promotion rivals Sunderland. Inside The Millers dressing room Paul Warne delivers a crucial speech to his team that he hopes will galvanise them for the second half, knowing they’re only 45 minutes away from promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. The second half is tight and tense and, at full-time, the manager reflects on a vital night for his side inside the now-empty stadium where...

There are two games left in Rotherham’s season and manager Paul Warne knows he needs a single win for his side to be guaranteed promotion to the Championship. But his team must travel to playoff-chasing Sunderland for a difficult Tuesday night fixture, which fills the manager with self-doubt. Not only that, he has to deal with the fallout from one of his players handing in a transfer request. Warne’s emotions are contrasted with those of his captain Richard Wood. In the late autumn of his...

It’s crunch time for Oxford and Rotherham as they face each other in a critical League One match-up at the New York Stadium. Rotherham need a win to carry into the final two games and maintain their bid for automatic promotion – while, for Oxford, three points is an absolute must if they’re to continue in the race for the playoffs. There’s a reunion of sorts as Karl Robinson and his former MK Dons assistant – now the Rotherham assistant manager – Richie Barker meet up again on the touchline...

Despite the glorious afterglow of Oxford’s victory at Fleetwood, the club’s season is still in the balance. With three games left they sit eighth in the table, four points off the play-off places. With anything less than victory in their last three games spelling the end of Oxford’s season, Karl Robinson’s side must face his old team from Milton Keynes, where he and his family still live. In the moments before kick-off, Robinson is tense as he addresses his side. His pleas for them to stick...

As the season draws to a close, tensions in the Rotherham dressing room are starting to boil over after a 3-0 loss to Portsmouth. Manager Paul Warne is trying to dissect why his side is self-imploding having previously been top of the league. The post-mortem lasts half an hour before Warne has to address the waiting press. As night falls, Warne reveals that he’s considering his position and that this may be his lowest moment in management. He talks of the abuse fans have been shouting at him...

Out of form striker Joshua Kayode is given reassurance from the manager about his performances but there’s bad news elsewhere as The Millers best player - midfielder Ben Wiles - apparently needs blood drained from his inflamed knee. Top goalscorer Michael Smith also needs an injection in his toe before the Pompey game if he’s to be able to play. Later in the episode, Warne discusses his relationship with the chairman Tony Stewart and Robinson does the same with his boss Sumrith ‘Tiger’...

After two straight defeats at the business end of the season it feels like a do-or-die game for Oxford at home to Sunderland. The build-up to the match begins at the training ground, where groundsman/comedian Toby Rouss gives the lowdown on the mood around the club, how the players are bearing up, and then chatting with Karl about the Grand National, where his dad is a co-owner of the favourite. And while the season is very much alive, thoughts are already turning to the next campaign, and...

As Paul Warne leads his Rotherham side out at Wembley in the final of Papa John’s Trophy, a few miles away Karl Robinson is pounding the capital’s streets, still seething from Oxford’s narrow defeat to Plymouth while he completes the London Landmarks Half Marathon. Two days later Oxford travel to Lancashire to take on relegation-threatened Morecambe, needing a victory to get their play-off bid back on track. But injuries to four key players leave Karl with a depleted squad to call...

Rotherham take on League Two side Sutton United in the final of the Papa John’s Trophy at Wembley, providing a welcome distraction for Paul Warne and his players, having won just one of their last five league fixtures. On return from the international break, the week prior to the final doesn’t get off to the best start. Head of Medical Stephen Gilpin reveals that first choice goalkeeper Josh Vickers could be out for up to nine months with a hand injury. After the team arrive in the capital...

Some time away from the dugout allows both Paul Warne and Karl Robinson to recalibrate during the international break as the managers oversee their sides’ contrasting results. With Rotherham only winning one of their last five, Paul tries to grapple with his players’ poor run of form and the abuse that followed from the home supporters after a 3-0 defeat to Shrewsbury. And, as they head to the business end of the campaign, it appears the players are starting to feel the effect of having...

On the eve of the last international break of the 2021/22 season, both Paul Warne and Karl Robinson were in a reflective mood, discussing their childhoods, footballing journeys and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Paul was a late bloomer as a player who went on to make over 260 appearances for the Millers before taking on the role as fitness coach and then manager. He also used to be a school teacher – something which he credits with helping shape his managerial philosophy. For...

In the opening episode we meet Rotherham’s Paul Warne, former club legend turned fitness coach and now manager, as he prepares his team for a midweek trip to Shrewsbury. We’re almost into March and Rotherham sit top of the table, nine points clear of second place, having lost just twice in their last 30 league games. And, even with star midfielder Dan Barlaser attending the birth of his child, Paul is contemplating resting three players with trickier tests on the horizon. This episode goes...

We meet Oxford manager Karl Robinson and some of the people behind the scenes that make the club tick: club groundsman Toby Ruoss, who is an MK Dons fan (Karl’s former club), and psychoanalyst Gary Bloom. Gary challenges Karl on whether he is obsessed with or addicted to football, leaving the manager to contemplate whether some addictions can be healthy. With a Covid outbreak threatening to dismantle the squad, the promotion chasers travel to a Shrewsbury side who held leaders Rotherham to...

What does it take to be a football manager? We all think we can do it: pick a team to win a game, sign a couple of players who looked good on FIFA... I mean, we’ve all played Championship Manager right? The reality is very few people can ever truly master it, can deal with the torment, the anguish, the pain of defeat or even the blessed relief of victory. And what about putting their families and friends in the firing line of fans, the media and everyone else who has an opinion on how you do...