Graham's Blog

THIS is the first part of my interview with Slaven Bilic, recorded at West Ham’s pre-season camp in Germany.

This interview will leave Hammers fans loving their manager even more than they already do – and will also, I’m sure, have everyone else feeling exactly the same way.

In the first part of this podcast, we hear about Bilic of Croatia, the centre-back of the team so many of us adored in Euro 96 and a side which nearly won it all at the World Cup two years later.

From Boban and Suker, to Boksic and Prosinecki, Slaven talks about all of those wonderful Croatian footballers, and in incredible, colourful detail too.

Slaven is one of the most passionate and insightful guests we’ve had on The Big Interview. I think you’ll agree.

Enjoy!

STARTING today, you have the chance to subscribe to The Big Interview for £2.99 a month on Patreon.

Subscribing couldn’t be simpler – just follow these six steps to become a socio:

1. On the right of www.patreon.com/grahamhunter you should see a big red button with ‘BECOME A PATRON’. Click on it and follow the instructions to confirm your pledge.

2. You should now receive your private RSS feed link. Copy it.

3. Go to your podcast app, e.g. the Podbean app.

4. Tap the search icon and then ‘+ Add Feed URL’.

5. Paste your private link in the box labelled ‘Add URL’.

6. Now you’re ready to listen to The Big Interview as a socio! Our podcast with Rafael van der Vaart and Episode Three of The Big Inside View are there waiting for you right now.

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.

I’ll see you in the socio club.

Graham

VAMOS socios! Here’s what I was talking about in the latest episode of The Big Inside View over on Patreon.

As you know, in the podcast I spoke about what I think has been a push back against the brand of football made popular by Pep Guardiola, a style many of us fell in love with while watching his FC Barcelona team, especially.

But there is an antidote to this attack, as you can see in this clip of the fabulous football being played by Celta Vigo, where Luis Enrique’s former assistant at Barcelona, Juan Carlos Unzué, is now manager.

https://twitter.com/vgsports_/status/894334618710749184?refsrc=email&s=11

And you can see something very similar in how Napoli move the ball cleverly, at pace, during a recent friendly with Atletico Madrid.

Tremendo: El Napoli jugando desde atrás contra el Atlético de Madrid. Vídeo @TransfersCalcio ✅. pic.twitter.com/o4fyPtXcZo

— Hernán Argüello Zelaya (@HernanArguello) August 1, 2017

I also want to draw your attention to the sensational decision of Juan Mata to support Street Football’s #CommonGoal project. Mata is giving up one per cent of his salary to that incredible cause and you can find out more about it by following this link.

Graham

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.