Author: martin

The new football campaign is around the corner… and we have some big news about season 2017-18 of The Big Interview. The local football club here in Barcelona have a membership scheme for supporters – they call them socios. They are the lifeblood of the club and they get special treatment in return. Well, we at The Big Interview are doing the same thing.

Next Wednesday – August 9 – you will have the chance to subscribe to The Big Interview for £2.99 a month on Patreon.  Here’s what you’ll get if you do:

•  One extra, exclusive Big Interview episode per month – starting with Rafael van der Vaart

• A brand new weekly show – The Big Inside View – where I will give you my take on what I’ve learned from the past seven days in football. Sign up next week and you’ll get the latest episode straight away

• Socios will also receive bonus shows during the season, including Q&A specials around big events like Clasicos. You’ll also get ad-free versions of everything we produce

• Only Socios will get the chance to win prizes signed by our guests, or access Facebook Live production meetings, where they can add their questions before interviews

  

All that for £2.99 per month. Less than a pint; less than the price of your favourite football magazine; less than a matchday programme.

The more subscribers we get, the more new content we can create – we have some exciting ideas for special new shows, but we will only be able to make these with your help.

 Thanks for listening, and see you in the Socio club. Mine’s a G&T!

Graham

HE enjoyed a glittering and remarkably successful reign as manager of FC Barcelona, but Pep Guardiola had to come through some dark times in order to get there.

In this extract – which is taken taken from my book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World – I tell that story, and reveal how it influenced the man who would become head coach of arguably the best club side of all time.

There was the injury which robbed Guardiola of 14 months of his playing career at the Camp Nou and false accusations of nandrolone use while in Italy, after he walked away from his beloved Barca feeling undervalued by those who ran the club at the time.

I explain how Guardiola went on to play in Qatar and Mexico, but turned down a move to English side Wigan Athletic and a chance to experience first-hand a style of football which he had always respected.

His return to the Camp Nou as coach of Barca B, and his success in that post paved the way for Guardiola to take over the first team and lead them to a period of unprecedented success.

My books on FC Barcelona and Spain are both available in full as audiobooks from Audible. You can get one of them for free if you sign up for a 30-day trial membership at audible.co.uk.

WE’RE giving away THREE copies of Graham’s Barca book to coincide with the release of the latest podcast in our summer series: an exclusive extract from the audiobook!

Barca: The Making Of The Greatest Team In The World is available now from Audible and documents the creation of the all-conquering Camp Nou side led by Pep Guardiola.

We will launch our exclusive extract on Monday, as Graham narrates the chapter ‘The Making Of Pep’ in which he tells the story of how Guardiola went from being a gifted midfielder in Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team to become head coach of the Catalan club.

Here’s what you have to do to get your hands on a copy: sign up to the Big Interview mailing list by 7pm on Monday by putting your email address into the ‘Subscribe’ box directly beneath this post. (If you’re on the mailing list already you don’t need to do anything).

We’ll then email you a Guardiola-related question. Hit ‘reply’ to Monday’s email with your answer, and we’ll announce the three lucky winners later in the week.

And if you don’t win, don’t worry. You’ll now be on our mailing list and will have the chance to win more goodies in the future and will have the latest podcasts sent directly to your inbox.

Good luck!

ARE you sitting comfortably? You are about to listen to an extract taken from my book on Spain and the inside story of La Roja’s historic treble.

This is Chapter Six: English Lessons. During the extract, I describe how some of Spain’s better footballers – Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Alvaro Arbeloa, players easily recognised today – began to extend their horizons beyond the boundaries of their country, and how this helped improve the fortunes of their national side.

Playing abroad had traditionally been a foreign concept for Spanish footballers. But I explain that, for many of the country’s young stars, playing in other European leagues brought opportunities they weren’t getting back home.

British football, in particular, helped La Roja to dominate at the three major tournaments between 2008 and 2012, with Joan Capdevila acknowledging that the Spaniards who played in England learned to become hardy competitors, as well as skilful footballers.

My book on Spain is available in full as an audiobook from the good people at Audible. You can get it absolutely free if you sign up for a 30-day trial membership at audible.co.uk. We will bring you the Making of Pep, an extract from Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy!

WE’RE giving away THREE copies of Graham’s Spain book to coincide with the release of the latest podcast in our summer series: an exclusive extract from the audiobook!

Spain: The Inside Story Of La Rojas’s Historic Treble is available now from Audible and chronicles that team’s remarkable triumphs at Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

We will launch our exclusive excerpt on Monday, as Graham narrates the chapter ‘English Lessons’ in which he reveals how playing abroad – and in England, in particular – transformed Spain’s players into hardy competitors.

Here’s what you have to do to get your hands on a copy: sign up to the Big Interview mailing list by 7pm on Monday by putting your email address into the ‘Subscribe’ box directly beneath this post. (If you’re on the mailing list already you don’t need to do anything).

We’ll then email you a Spain-related question. Hit ‘reply’ to Monday’s email with your answer, and we’ll announce the three lucky winners later in the week.

And if you don’t win, don’t worry. You’ll now be on our mailing list and will have the chance to win more goodies in the future and will have the latest podcasts sent directly to your inbox.

Good luck!