The Second Captains Podcast

A crushing win for Manchester City at Anfield, who went a man up in the second half then tore Andoni Iraola's scufflers to pieces. A beaming Enzo Maresca hailed his players and supporters for creating a big noise of their own to counteract all the noise the hater media has been making since City were found guilty of the biggest cheating scandal in the history of English football. City fans certainly looked like they were enjoying it - though according to the Manchester press, the situation is more complicated than it perhaps appears. Neil Atkinson and Jonathan Wilson join us to talk about Liverpool v City, what it means for the league to be stuck in limbo, the Eliott Andersons vs the Florian Wirtzes, and whether Iraolaball is going anywhere.

On this week's Second Captains World Service we discussed Maresca’s blind faith in Man City, how the Liverpool and City fans will react on Sunday and Ken and Branno headed off to the Garvaghy Road in Armagh to ask what defines “a long time ago”?Plus there's Ronaldo's rant, Ireland under 21's beating England, all the young dudes in Irish rugby and next week we review Liverpool V City, the Rovers run-in is getting salty and the European Rugby Champions Cup is back.To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’ ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.

Galway is one of only two counties to have won an All-Ireland football title with an outside manager, and they’re endeavouring to do it again with the unveiling on Saturday morning of their new manager, Kerry legend Eamonn Fitzmaurice. Dara Ó Cinnéide played with him for years, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t fundamentally opposed to the appointment, notwithstanding the diamond Galway have gotten for themselves as he tells us on today’s show. And Murph is punching up for a change, as he takes aim at the no-doubt extremely worried Mark Zuckerberg for meddling in the West Waterford junior B hurling championship.

Ireland ended their four match run with five points leaving them third in the table. But, bar a Troy Parrott goal for the ages, these last few weeks will be remembered long into the future for the debate off the field and the rancour inside press conference rooms, more of which occurred this weekend.We chat to Ken from northern Serbia before he high-tails it for Belgrade and home.

Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs. This week on the world service, amid a flood of football stories, we got stuck into Sham City.We had a deep chat with Richie Sadlier about squad dynamics and player relations, given all that's gone down in this international window. Dion Fanning was in studio today talking about Oireachtas soundbites and Heimir V media.Plus there's Ronaldo's huff, medals in the bin, and lots to come including tonight's late night show after the Austria game, Israel Part 2 Man City fallout and the return of the PL.To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’ ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.

… And now some news from the Premier League. It was revealed last Friday that Manchester City are set to be found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges laid against them by the Premier League, which could quite possibly be the biggest story in the history of English football.Miguel Delaney of the Independent is with us today to talk about sanctions, appeals and club compensation. We also talk to Archie Rhind-Tutt about the start of the Jurgen Klopp era in charge of Germany.And there is, unfortunately, an unseemly spat about barber etiquette.

After the most dramatic, most divisive day in Irish football for a quarter-century… a football game. Gavin Bazunu was not a part of the Irish squad, Ireland bowed their heads for the Israeli anthem, no handshakes were exchanged, but the game happened, and Ireland went and won it 3-0. Ken was in Debrecen to see this calamitous week through to its conclusion.

We already knew this was going to be an international football week unlike anything we’d ever experienced and the sight of the Ireland football manager accepting the support of the Taoiseach over derogatory comments made about him by another country’s football association brought it into even sharper focus. We cover all that on the World Service this week, but we also wanted to get a broader view on these games against Israel so we got in touch with Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian living in the UK and working as a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter.We also chatted to US Murph about a wild start to the NFL season, ACL V Achilles, Ken is in on the show today from Kosovo and this evening and we will post a Sunday night show straight after Ireland V Israel. To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’ ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.