The best football podcast going…
After being disillusioned with football for quite some time, England’s surprisingly uplifting performance at the 2018 World Cup helped me to recapture my love of the beautiful game. During this period I imbibed a huge amount of football media ranging from documentaries to radio show’s to podcasts. Of the latter, it was the Guardian’s World Cup specials that I most enjoyed, managing, as they did, to even eclipse my beloved Quicky Kevin podcast in terms of World Cup coverage. But would I still be a convert even after World Cup fever had passed and my wife had began talking to me again?
Despite the optimistic title of this piece, I haven’t written about a podcast for a number of weeks, purely because I am really struggling to find any decent ones. Adam Buxton and the aforementioned Quickly Kevin are on hiatus. I soon got bored of Welcome to Night Vale and My Dad Wrote A Porno. I have diligently worked my way through every true crime podcast in the business. These are grim times for the devoted podcast listener. Luckily then, Football Weekly came along at just the right time. I was drowning in a sea of mediocrity until Max Rushden pulled me to the shore with his big, strong arms and a trademark grin. I love that man…
Football Weekly is a twice weekly podcast under the Guardian umbrella and hosted by the beautiful Max Rushden. Alongside him is a revolving cast of guests normally featuring the avuncular Barry Glendenning and various others. Rushden and Glendenning share a wonderfully world weary chemistry which sees the excitable Rushden as the yin to Glendenning’s slightly grumpier yang. The show strikes the perfect balance between irreverent fandom and intelligent football chat without ever succumbing to hyperbole or fawning.
Rushden is relatively new to Football Weekly, having taken over from the legendary James Richardson in 2017, and he seems to have settled in nicely alongside his more experienced co-presenters. Not that I would know having never listened to the pod when it was hosted by Richardson. I’m just saying things. None of it means anything.
Anyway, we are not here to discuss the indisputable fact that life is meaningless, we are here for football chat. And on that score Football Weekly can’t be beaten. Essential listening for even the casual football supporter.