Nessun Dorma ventures into new territory this week, with Martyn and Rob joined by two special guests for our first ever cricket episode. Jonathan Hungin and Andrew Miller, who worked with Rob at Wisden.com at the turn of the century, join us to draft their XIs from the memorable 1999 World Cup. The list of players includes all-time greats hitting the heights (Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Rahul Dravid, Wasim Akram, Allan Donald) and unheralded players having the best month of their...

Martyn and Rob are joined by Rob Fletcher, author of 1992: The Birth of Modern Football, and Ally Bain of Retro Football Analysis to pick their teams from a classic European season. Marquee picks include Raul, Oliver Kahn, Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Redondo, Patrick Kluivert, Mario Jardel, Roy Keane, Luis Figo, Rivaldo and Jaap Stam. A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft: * Each player can only be picked by one person. When Raul has gone, he’s gone. * Players are judged solely on...

Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Rob Fletcher, author of the superb 1992: The Birth of Modern Football, to draft their teams from the inaugural Premier League season. Marquee picks include Eric Cantona, Alan Shearer, Paul Ince, Paul McGrath, Les Ferdinand, Steve Staunton, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs. A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft: * Each player can only be picked by one person. When Eric Cantona has gone, he’s gone. * Players are judged solely on their performances in the...

It’s a big one this week: France 98, a tournament full of great games and all-time-great players. Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by the Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg - who worked with Glenn Hoddle on his autobiography, Playmaker - to draft their XIs from the balmy, barmy summer of 1998. A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft: * Each player can only be picked by one person. When Ronaldo has gone, he’s gone. * Players are judged solely on their performances at France 98. Thus: Jose...

This week’s draft is a challenge: picking an XI from England internationals of the 1980s. Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by… nobody, and that’s probably a good thing because it's hard enough finding 33 players, never mind 44. A reminder of the rules of the Nessun Dorma draft: 1. Each player can only be picked by one person. When Bryan Robson and Gary Lineker have gone, they’ve gone. 2. Players are judged solely on their form for England in the 1980s. Greatness at club level, or for England...

We’re going draft daft over the next few weeks, with a mini-series devoted to arguing over the best XIs from various tournaments, seasons and eras. We start with English football’s summer of love, also known as Euro 96. Martyn and Rob are joined by Mike Gibbons, whose When Football Came Home is the best book around on that tournament, and Jonathan O’Brien, author of the definitive European Championship history. The rules of the draft are simple: * Each player can only be picked by one person....

Gary and Rob talk to Martyn about his book Revolution: Rangers 1986-92, and how Graeme Souness changed Scottish football when he became player-manager at Ibrox. It was a perfect storm, and for a short time Rangers had a pulling power that not even England’s biggest clubs could match. Souness was prepared to rip up traditions - and pick fights with just about everyone - in his attempt to continue lifting trophies after hanging up his boots. Revolution: Rangers 1986-92 by Martyn Ramsay is...

Welcome to the Nessun Dorma Book Club, a kind of sporting Late Review but without Tony Parsons. The premise this week is simple: Mike, Gary and Martyn bring a football book that made an impact on their lives and explain why. From the definitive and myth-shattering history of West German football and the instant window into the past provided by Panini to a delve into the world of sports psychology at a time when Sven-Göran Eriksson was still considered to be a Svengali and not a Scandi Benny...

Welcome to the inaugural Nessun Dorma Draft, in which we each pick an XI from a particular tournament, season or era. Given the name of our podcast, we had to start with a trip back to Italia 90. Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Mac Millings to pick their XIs from a tournament full of superstars. These are the rules: 1. Each player can only be picked by one person. When Andy Brehme has gone, he’s gone. 2. Players are judged solely on their form during Italia 90. Thus: Salvatore Schillaci...

In the last episode of our Euro 88 special, Martyn, Gary and Rob are joined by Jonathan O’Brien to discuss the final in Munich and the tournament as a whole. They look at whether the suspended Oleg Kuznetsov would have changed the game, why we remember the Netherlands so fondly and whether a goal as extraordinary as Marco van Basten’s can create the illusion of inevitability. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,...

Both Euro 88 semi-finals were intriguing culture clashes. The first match, in Hamburg, was loaded with historical significance. West Germany v Netherlands evoked the 1974 World Cup final and even the second world war. A good (if slightly overrated) match had a savage late twist that went straight into European Championship folklore. USSR v Italy did not have the same mutual enmity, but they were also a study in contrasts. The Soviet Union were experienced and streetwise, Italy young and...

By the final round of group games, Euro 88 was effectively a six-team tournament. Denmark and England were already eliminated and barely had any pride left to play for. Group A was concluded with simultaneous games on Friday night, just a week – and a lifetime – after the tournament had begun. The hosts West Germany played Spain in Munich, with the likelihood that the semi-finals wouldn’t be big enough for the both of them. West Germany needed a draw, Spain a win. Italy, who many felt had...

Euro 88 was only four days old when the second of group games began, but our old friend jeopardy was already running amok. After a nervous start, the hosts West Germany took on an ailing Denmark in Gelsenkirchen. A few hours later, also in Group A, Italy met Spain in what was felt like a de facto quarter-final. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we rushed home from school (or, in Gary’s case, grabbed a seat in front of a 15-inch TV with a load of fashionistas) for the big one: England v the...

Our look back at Euro 88 continues with the first round of group games. On Friday 10 June 1988, the tournament kicked off with a tense match between West Germany, the hosts and favourites, and a vibrant young Italian side. The other Group A game took place the following afternoon, a thrilling if slightly shambolic contest between Denmark and Spain. There were five goals and a fair bit of controversy, but the highlight for English audiences was a brief, comic loss of temper from the usually...

A new series of Nessun Dorma starts with the first part of our deep dive into Euro 88, the last major tournament in Europe before the big bang of Italia 90. Martyn Ramsay, Gary Naylor and Rob Smyth set the scene for a much anticipated tournament. “Whatever happens,” wrote David Lacey in his preview for the Guardian, “the 1988 European Championship should set new standards on the field.” Martyn, Gary and Rob discuss where football was at in 1988, recall the highlights of qualification –...

You can call it a comeback; we haven’t been here for years. Nessun Dorma returns from hibernation for a one-off special ahead of the World Cup, and a deep dive into one of the greatest matches in its storied history: the Espana 82 semi-final between France and West Germany. Your regulars Gary, Rob and Mike dust off the mics to discuss a history-making game loaded with brilliance and controversy. We look at the players and the styles that went up against each other on that absorbing night in...

Lee, Mike and Gary pick a couple of goals each from the legendary BBC VHS "101 Great Goals". This episode was originally put out to patreon members, but is now available to all as part of our farewell tour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We finish off our countdown of the Top 20 goals of Mexico86. You won't believe which one wins.... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gary Naylor is amazed and moved by an exhibition that tracks how football has been defined by the objects within it, and how a discourse developed globally to facilitate football's communication with itself and with its audience.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our farewell tour countdown of Mexico 86 goals continues Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lee, Mike and Gary are here to chat through the next five goals in the Mexico 86 Top 20 rundown. This episode is part of our farewell tour and was originally content for patrons of the pod, hence some of the confusing references to such things at times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first gig of our farewell tour, Rob and Gary get detailed with Des as they cast their eye over the BBC's Top 20 Goals at Mexico 86. With just an hour at their disposal, they bravely manage to cover the first five on the list (well, they do go a little off-piste at times), with their favourite no surprise - who doesn't love an unemployed Brazilian right back?  Here's a link to the goals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtCxH7tuKo - we'll cover the remaining 15 over the next few...

Gary Naylor chats to Tom Whitworth about his book, When the Seagulls Follow the Trawler: Football in the 90s. They get into the thrills and spills of the tumultuous decade that saw the founding of the Premier League, the transformation of stadiums and Gareth Southgate disappoint us in a penalty shoot-out. Tom spoke to plenty of those who were there to witness and, indeed, to instigate the changes that reverberate down the years to...

We're back for another Extra Time and with the rescheduled Euro 2020 on the way, Mike has a chat with the author of the definitive history of the tournament. Jonathan O'Brien is an editor and writer for the Business Post in Ireland, and has written the recently published Euro Summits: The Story of the UEFA European Championship 1960 to 2016. Mike and Jonathan chew the fat over the writing of the book, the origins of the tournament, the buried treasure in its history, its most famous moments...

Our Gary talks to the much loved Pat Nevin about his new memoir, The Accidental Footballer, already a bestseller. En route, we hear about Tommy Tuchel and the alchemy of football management, why it really was better growing up on cinder pitches in the 70s and what it was like on the other side of the whitewash when Everton played Liverpool in the 1989 FA Cup Final. And why Gary thought Pat was lying next to him in bed.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.