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Todays guest James O'Connor is a man who has seen it all in football. The Louisville City President amassed over 500 appearances in first team football before beginning his coaching career in America. Seeking the pull of making an impact at a higher level James jumped at the chance to become Club President. Overseeing the building of a $50m training complex, $75m stadium and the expansion of the women's team it is hard to underestimate his impact on the club and city. An insightful episode...

Todays guest Alex Clapham is a Tactical Advisor with 777 Partners and founder of Cano Football. As a young coach Alex repeatedly sought to challenge his worldview taking influences from the outside. It wasn’t enough for Alex to only read and watch from afar, he was soon pulled to embody and live that experience. That set in motion a journey of discovery forging a coaching career in Mexico and Spain. Promotion campaigns with Vasco de Gama and Genoa reinforced Alex’s belief that football always...

"Winning takes talent, to repeat it takes character..." James Kerr is best known for his book; "Legacy - What the All Blacks can teach us about the business of life". Here James goes deep into the heart of the All Blacks distilling 15 practical lessons for leadership and business. Working with the All Blacks at a time where they reframed winning, "Legacy" best encapsulates the arc of a team who would go down in history. Champions do extra, they sweep the sheds, they keep a blue head, they are...

Nice have earned plaudits aplenty this season for their bold, courageous and unrelenting style of football. Led by Francisco Farioli they have a staff who live and breathe these core values on and off the pitch. Today I was joined by the very special; Jarkko Tuomisto, their goalkeeping coach. The following conversation with Jarkko lends to some fascinating insight as how he ascended to the top of his profession. In his own words, on the road to "climbing the second mountain" Jarkko juggled...

Today's guest Jon MacKenzie is the face and voice of TIFO Football. He has been regarded as one of the finest minds on football tactics in recent years. It was fascinating to spend an hour in Jon's company going in depth on his topic of choice. Here we cover everything from hybrid pressing, Jon's fascination for the out of possession phase, Liverpool's evolution, Michel's new age football at Girona, what makes Xabi Alonso fascinating to study and TIFO's plans going forward. Listen to find out...

Currently the allure of investing in Premier League football is as strong as ever. This has coincided with a rise of American investment into English football with 50% of Premier League clubs having some form of American investment. To understand this growing trend who better a guest to invite on than one of the leaders responsible for attracting the best talent into the boardrooms and also Head of Capital Investment for the UK government in North America; Richard Albert. Working to support...

"Football needs to go back to the creative players, football is entertainment, if you cannot entertain the spectators what do you got?" Today's guest is Al-Wasl Head of Youth Development; Michel Mommertz. Meeting Michel time aplenty in Dubai over coffee I thought it was just time to host him and share his wonderful story to date. Michel doesn't do half measures, the youngest professional footballer still in Dutch history with a fervent love for the game had his playing days curtailed short by...

Today's episode is an enlightening conversation with world respected football journalist Ben Jacobs. In today's age of bottomless content and ITK's galore it can be often tough to identify the signal amongst the noise. However we have no such problem with today's guest. With a punditry career spanning 15+ years Ben takes us through many of the principles which have fuelled his ascent and enabled him to build reciprocal relationships in the game. With the added scrutiny of a large social media...

"Put yourself on the path to the career you always wanted" In today's episode I am joined by Daniel Geey who here details his rise from car parts lawyer to one of the most respected and trusted lawyers in the game. An inspiration to many with his book "Done Deal", he has followed it up with his latest book; "Build the Invisible". At the top of the iceberg people see only the deals and success. Here we focus on what lays below the water. In his own words Daniel's sheer stubbornness and...

"If you do the work, know yourself, know your team, then you can grow your team." Orlando SC have undergone quite the transformation over these past few years and have become known as a perennial title contender in the MLS. Today's guest David Cosgrave has played a huge part in redefining service excellence for the Florida outfit in their quest to build a top class culture. "Find a Way" has become the motto of the "The Lions". You don't build community by chance and with social cohesion at...

Just over one month ago Bolton had won 7-0 at home in front of 25,000 people continuing their promotion push to the Championship. It is a far cry to a club just over a few years prior who had just come out of administration, straggled at the bottom of League 2. When a situation is as ground zero where do you even begin? For the new Sporting Director; Chris Markham it was quite the remit however fear not Wanderers had found a professional very equipped from his time at Huddersfield Town and...

The year John Stones had the most amount of successful dribbles in a Champions League Final since Lionel Messi, 2023 was a year for the ages. From Gateshead to Nice the universal search for control took on a new level and has appeared in many shapes and forms. Box midfields, hybrid pressing are on the menu today as we go through some of the tactical innovations and setups which have caught our eye. Liam Tharme joins me to dissect the past year and cast an eye as to what maybe on the horizon...

Meeting Frazer pitch side in Philadelphia last summer it was clear that he has been on a special journey with an upward trajectory evidenced further since which is showing no signs of slowing down. Going through the ages and stages of development, Frazer has left no stone unturned in his quest to better himself as an individual. Luckily for us some of those lessons cascaded into coaching and today he joins us to reflect and share anecdotes regarding some of the key experiences from his...

"The future of football is going faster and faster, scanning becomes so important..." For those who are curious, life often serves the best returns. What was a deficiency in Karl Aksum's playing career became a topic of fascination for the newly turned coach in his early days.Studying thousands of game situations Karl soon became inspired to put pen to paper on some groundbreaking research on visual perception in elite football. Collaborating with clubs such as Ajax and Southampton,...

"The football we want, the football we need." This Tuesday December 12th and Wednesday December 13th World Football Summit (WFS) will run their annual Asian event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. WFS see themselves as "a community of leaders who share knowledge and ideas to drive the evolution of the industry both business and values". At the heart of this is co-founder Jan Alessie who alongside Marian Otamendi have ran events all over the world since 2016. What begun as a think tank is now one of...

"All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town". - Leonard Tolstoy Today's guest is one of football's expert storytellers. Throughout time Guillem Balague has shared the stories of many of football's greats, expertly sharing insights and humanizing the person behind the performer. So it was about time I figured to turn the tables on Guillem and ask him to share his story.What was originally meant to be a conversation about Lionel Messi turned...

"Football is conquering the world at an unstoppable speed and at the moment there is a dysfunction between the audience and practice in some countries." - Arsene Wenger. The man who's role it is to minimize that gap is today's guest; Matthew Clement who is also the FIFA Training Centre Manager. From the conceptualisation of a new football language to overseeing the development of FIFA's new competency framework it has been an eventful time in charge for Matthew. A combination of the most...

"Football is not just about a result, it is a way of living." On December 2nd Juan Roman Riquelme will run against Andres Ibarra for the Boca Juniors presidency. Today's guest Gustav Salvestrini is a Boca Socio and member also of Ibarra's party. Ibarra's campaign push centres around the need to commercialise Boca, modernise revenue structures and return Boca to one of the top 5 clubs in World Football. Listen to find out more including; - The cultural significance of Boca Juniors within the...

“You want to be a builder...” Mark Cartwright is the Sporting Director of Huddersfield Town. Mapping out his pathway from player to agent and now the current day, he joined us to distill some of his most pertinent learnings to date. Navigating change, working across every facet of the organisation Mark has learned to adapt and evolve quickly across his time at Stoke City, USL and now Huddersfield. Learn as how to Mark built out his own pathway, how he continually humbles himself, principles...

David Garcia is the founder of "It's Just a Sport". One's coaching journey will pull and drag you a thousand different ways. In many a different direction and amid a war of attention what football stands out most to you? Furthermore how do you create a methodology and bring this to life? After a while searching down the path less trodden David Garcia has alchemised plenty of lessons inspiring thousands of coaches. In his current work as an "experience architect" David is passionate about how...

"Take care of the game and the business will take care of itself."I for one cannot wait to attend this year's SoccerEx in Miami. To preview this year's offering, CEO Patrick McCreanor joined the show. From it's debut event in Wembley right through to a landmark 50th convention in it's adopted city of Miami SoccerEx has cemented itself as the world's largest football business event. As over 600 clubs from all around the world embark on the Magic City we chart through the rise of one of...

"The objective is to win but at what cost...." Jonathon O'Neill is the co-founder of HeadCoach. Turning potential into performance HeadCoach is an app which allows you to master your mental, emotional and social skillsets. At a time where coaches and players bandwith have never been as stretched the app seeks to optimize and enhance your ability to reflect, realign and refocus. A tool which we must constantly develop, there is no arrival point or time at which we master EQ. Integrating the...

"There is always a next step..." Darren Powell's mantra for player development is too something which he holds close to his heart. Now the Director of Player Development for Inter Miami Darren is responsible for overseeing the transition of players from their MLS Next side into the professional game. Understandably and not entirely an exact science, Darren and Inter Miami have received plaudits galore for their shrewd judgment in the ascent of as many as 6 homegrowns to the pro ranks...