Graham's Blog

Stiliyan Petrov: National Service (part one)

17 Nov 2016

PART ONE of this interview with Stiliyan Petrov – which is one of my favourites in this entire series – covers a lot of ground, from picking up rifle shell cases from the snow, to the dangers of not being close enough to Henrik Larsson when he wins a header.

Not all of you may know that Stiliyan took an enforced break in the early years of his career as a pro to serve in the Bulgarian army for 18 months. He tells it here, and connects the lessons he learned during that time with the footballer and the man he would become.

At Celtic, he had to adapt to a new country and a new language. How he improved his English is a story matched by very few of the guests we have had on the podcast.

So grab yourself a burger, and enjoy the first part of a fascinating interview with a remarkable man.

Updated edition of Barca book!

11 Nov 2016

So, I’ve updated my Barca book for the first time since it was published in February 2012.

This edition – with a new jacket featuring Lionel Messi’s iconic celebration in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley – contains a substantial new epilogue containing a fresh perspective on the end of Pep Guardiola’s reign at the club; the transition to Tito Vilanova and the tragic death of Pep’s former assistant from cancer.  There is also a new section on the brief reign of Tata Martino and a reflection on the untimely passing of Johan Cruyff, the Godfather of the modern Barca era. In total, about 40 extra pages have been added to the original edition.

The book is available everywhere, but I would urge you to buy directly from us. Two reasons – firstly, this will guarantee that you’ll receive the new edition. If you order from elsewhere, there’s a possibility of receiving the original. Secondly, we make a little more money if you buy from us. Margins are increasingly tight in publishing and buying direct helps us keep writing, publishing and producing the Big Interview podcasts. Click the ‘buy direct’ button below and the book will be with you shortly.

Thanks!

Graham

Buy Direct

Camp Nou competition: Your final chance

03 Nov 2016

It’s the final week of our Camp Nou competition. Enter the Graham Hunter Podcast Challenge at FanDuel, using our promo code, and you could be on the way to Barcelona, with a pal, to watch Barca play Malaga on November 19.

The bar is high. Last weekend there was some huge scoring, and FanDuel player and podcast listener BaconPolse leapt into pole position with a massive 344.

How did he do it? Well, he had Phillipe Coutinho and Sergio Aguero in his team, but then again more than half of all players in the Podcast Challenge did, too.

The single most important pick old Bacon made was İlkay Gündoğan – only 10% of our players went for the German and he was the top scoring player last Saturday with a whopping 64.25 points. That’s behind two goals, one assist and a pass-tackle-intercept game that racked up points like a pinball machine.

You can still beat Mr Bacon to this great prize – flights, hotel and match tickets for you and a friend to Barca v Malaga – by following these steps:

•       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.

•       Even if you missed weeks one and two, a winning score on Saturday could be enough to win this prize. If the winner has a score above BaconPolse’s 340 points, that listener is flying to Barcelona. Win with a lower score, and you’ll have to make do with the usual cash prize and a lot of kudos.

FanDuel sponsor us, and keep the podcast free for you. Why not play with them – it might take you all the way to Barcelona. Vamos.

 

Win a signed Zabaleta Argentina shirt!

31 Oct 2016

So, after speaking to Pablo Zabaleta for the latest podcast, the Man City defender kindly signed an Argentina shirt for us. And you have the chance to win it. Here’s what you have to do….

Just scroll down and put your email address into the ‘Subscribe’ box directly underneath this post. That means you’ll be on the Big Interview mailing list (If you’re already on the mailing list you don’t need to do anything).

On Thursday, we’ll email you a Zabaleta-related question. Hit ‘reply’ to Thursday’s email with your answer, and we’ll announce a winner on Friday.

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, submit questions to our guests and get the latest podcasts sent directly to your inbox.

Good luck!

Graham

Pablo Zabaleta: Messi, Manchester and Martin Tyler

31 Oct 2016

I FIRST interviewed Pablo Zabaleta at his tiny flat in the suburb of Didsbury at the start of his time in Manchester. The Argentine has now made over 300 appearances for the club which he joined just before Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008.

He also scored the forgotten goal of English football. 2012. Final game of the season. Edin Dzeko equalises against QPR in the 92nd minute. Then, “Aguerooooo” seals the title with the famous last-minute strike. Pablo opened the scoring that day and told me that at half-time, with the score 1-0, he thought HE would be the “hero of the day, the hero of the city!”

He is fascinating on those final few moments of the 2012 season, revealing how the injury-time news that QPR were safe from relegation changed everything in City’s favour and helped Aguero to claim his place in history.

We cover a lot in this conversation, starting in 2005 at the Under-20 World Cup, which Argentina won. Zabaleta was captain and a little Argentinean kid called Leo Messi had joined up with the squad the previous month. We play Pablo this video of him scoring (jump to 7:10 for the goal) in the semi-final against Brazil and reflect on the achievements of that golden generation of players, including Angel Di Maria, Aguero and Messi.

Pablo also speaks emotionally about Dani Jarque, his former teammate at Espanyol, who died of heart failure in 2009. Andres Iniesta paid tribute to Jarque in the 2010 World Cup final after scoring the winning goal, when he took off his Spain top to reveal the message: “Dani Jarque: Siempre Con Nosotros” (Dani Jarque: Always With Us).

Pablo talks about how the role of right-back has changed under current manager Pep Guardiola and his motivation to remain “part of the club even if they can spend £50-60m on a right-back”.

Enjoy

Graham