Author: neil

Matt Le Tissier: Local Hero

21 Oct 2016

Matt Le Tissier was the ultimate Local Hero (great film, btw).  He signed for Southampton at 16 and stayed for his whole career. His exquisite talents would have allowed him to grace a higher stage, but trophies and money were never his motivation.

In part one, Matt talks about his End Blyton-esque childhood on Guernsey, his passion for cricket, the art of penalty-taking and scoring the last-ever goal at the Dell.
Guys like Matt are a reminder of why we all love football so much. And I hope you enjoy this conversation with a legend of the British game as much as I did.

Graham

This episode was made possible by Nordoff Robins. We met Matt before Nordoff Robins’ annual football fundraising dinner in London. It’ s a charity we’ d like you to think about. Nordoff Robins offer music therapy to help children with a wide range of acute difficulties. As always, this podcast is free, but if you think this chat is worth £1 or more, please go to
www.nordoff-robins.org.uk and hit ‘ donate’

HEY! YOUR SEAT’S RIGHT HERE! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

21 Oct 2016

Podcast listeners! Football lovers! Competition time! Here’s how to win tickets to Barcelona v Malaga at the Camp Nou, with a friend, and me, Graham Hunter, on November 19. Flights, hotel, football and fun. All courtesy of our awesome sponsor, FANDUEL.

  • Sign up at fanduel using promo code BIGINTERVIEW. If you have already signed up using this or any of our promo codes, you can ignore this part. But only players based in the UK and who use one of our codes are eligible to win.
  • Play in the Graham Hunter Podcast Challenge on Saturday. The usual cash prizes are up for grabs every week, as well as this special prize.
  • The podcast listener with the highest single matchday score across the next three matchdays wins this very special prize. If you don’t do well in week one, or you don’t play until week three, you can still win the prize.

There will be a Podcast Challenge on Saturday October 22nd, the 29th and on November 5th.  

With FanDuel it’s a brand new game every matchday, so you don’t have to play every week to win this prize. The single highest score will do it.

You can keep track of who’s in pole position, and what the score to beat is, here at grahamhunter.tv.

Vamos!

Graham

FanDuel is next-gen fantasy football, with brand new competitions every matchday. And they sponsor The Big Interview, keeping it free for you. Why not check them out, play against me and win!

The Graham Hunter Podcast Challenge: Game Week Five

09 Sep 2016

In between parts one and two of my interview with Phil Neville, let’s get back to fantasy football. Are you joining us on FanDuel for the Graham Hunter Podcast Challenge?

At the moment, for a very low entry fee you get the chance to win cash and a shout-out on the podcast. But very soon the stakes will go up, and we’ll be offering big prizes, some of which will be connected to the podcast, and one of which may well take you all the way to the Camp Nou.

For now, here’s my latest effort to beat you, the podcast listeners.

Robert Snodgrass is in top form at the moment and as Aberdeen legend Mark McGhee said while Snodgrass was on Scotland duty, he’s a midfielder that does everything. That means points galore.

I also like my three centre-backs. Watching the points roll in live on the FanDuel app as they make tackle after tackle after tackle will make me feel like  Leo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street.

I’m having lots of fun with this FanDuel competition. If you want to join in, it’s really simple. Log in at fanduel.co.uk/graham and please make sure you use promo code GRAHAM. That means you’ll get your first deposit matched by FanDuel.

Have fun. See you on the app!

Graham.

Thomas Hitzlsperger: Playing Against Prejudice

27 Aug 2016

In part two of my interview with Thomas Hitzlsperger, the former Germany midfielder talks about his decision to take on some big issues outside football.

This began in 2007, at the peak of his playing career, when he blogged about racism in football for a German site – the first story he wrote about concerned the racist abuse aimed at a Celtic player during a trial game Thomas played for the Scottish club before he joined Aston Villa.

He also talks in length about his decision to come out as the most high-profile gay footballer. It’s fascinating to hear him talk about how such a personal decision eventually influences a debate within wider football culture and impacts on individual lives in a way I don’t believe he was expecting.

Thanks for listening.

Und danke, Hammer.

Graham

Podcast Challenge: Neil BackPage’s team

08 Aug 2016

I’m not saying it’s a strategy that will lead me to sustained glory against Graham Hunter, Martin BackPage and the listeners of The Big Interview all season long, but for week one of the Graham Hunter Podcast Challenge on FanDuel, I thought I’d be guided, as I so often am in life, by Falkirk FC.

The academy at my club has had a good few years. I’m not sure there have been many Premier League fantasy drafts that have included three graduates of our youth system, but this season, I can build a team around former Bairns.

Scott Arfield will certainly play for Burnley in their first game back in the big league and has matured into an all-action midfielder who may be perfectly suited to FanDuel’s OPTA-driven scoring system. He’ll pick up points for passes, tackles, interceptions shots on target, chances created… and hopefully won’t lose too many for yellow and red cards. I’ll never understand why he wasn’t given a chance for Scotland, but I’ve been to Canada, the people are nice there and he’ll represent them with distinction.

Arfield Bairn

Stephen Kingsley was a few years behind Arfield in the youth teams at Falkirk, but the left-back has made great progress as the most successful of several exports to Swansea City. He signed an extended contract with them during the close season, after making his Scotland debut, and is dukeing it out with his counterpart in the Wales team, Neil Taylor, for a starting slot against Arfield’s Burnley this weekend.

Falkirk's Stephen Kingsley. Brechin City 1 v 2 Falkirk, The Ramsden Cup. ©Pic : Michael Schofield.

Jay Fulton is closer to hanging on to a first team shirt than at any time since he moved to Swansea from Falkirk in January 2014.  The midfielder got plenty of game time in pre-season and also signed a new contract during the summer. He’s one of the most inexpensive signings on the FanDuel roster and if he comes off the bench and scores a couple of rakers, I’m pretty sure I’ll be the only one in the competition with him in my team. Needless to say, I’ll have the last laugh.

Jay Bairn

Finally, only the fact that our inaugural competition runs only across the Saturday fixtures prevented me from selecting another former Bairn. Lest we forget, Kasper Schmeichel’s Premier League winner’s medal is only his second most treasured possession, after the Falkirk shirt he wore with distinction in 2007.

Kasper Bairns

Join in by picking your team for opening day at FanDuel. Use promo code BIGINTERVIEW and then join the GRAHAM HUNTER PODCAST CHALLENGE in the ‘competitions’ list. See you there!

Neil BackPage (producer)

Sign up using promo code BIG INTERVIEW here