It was so popular last year that we decided to do it again! Join us this holiday season as we introduce you to twelve of our favourite podcasts in the 12 Days of Podmas.
The Rest is Football is the latest podcast from Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Podcasts company, as well as following the naming convention of other podcasts such as The Rest is History and The Rest is Politics. It is a conversation about current football events featuring ex-footballers turned pundits Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards; men who have been key parts of sports broadcasting for many years, fronting the highest profile games as well as other sports.
Lineker is also the BBC’s highest paid presenter, so in terms of British celebrities, you are in the highest profile you can get. They also hold prestigious footballing careers that are held in high regard by fans other footballers that cover different generations of the game. Lineker is in his 60s, Shearer in his 50s and Richards in his late 30s. So they have experienced the game in different decades, and all played for England.
Drawing from their experience in broadcasting, and more importantly football, the three talk and analyse current football news alongside personal stories of their careers. It’s all fascinating stuff with all three hosts being strong story-tellers. Lineker often talks of different cultures and management styles of a different era, Shearer being quite insightful about his experience and Richards often has incredibly surreal experiences that he recalls.
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The podcast has recently started to get high profile guests. Recently a two-part episode involving Thierry Henry was incredibly open and insightful as he spoke about his reasons for playing and seeking approval from his father. It led to open discussions from the main hosts about relationships with their fathers and was quite moving and revealing.
Which is one of the bigger strengths of this podcast as opposed to Lineker, Shearer and Richards’ work on the BBC. The podcast doesn’t have to conform to broadcasting standards, so they’re free to talk about what they want and when they want, and Shearer is free to swear as much as he wants. It’s like he’s finally free to talk normally. Just don’t plan on playing a drinking game to do a shot everytime he drops the f-bomb. It leads to three friends talking about topics they love, but also ripping into each other as often as they can. It is incredibly funny, they are all relaxed with each other and it makes it very easy to listen to.
A must for any football fan, and a great way for the casual football fan to keep on top of current football news.
The Rest is Football is available from wherever you get your podcasts.