The Halcyon Podcast

Rob and Adam are joined by Simon Hart, author of the fabulous 'World in Motion: The Inside Story of Italia 90' and 'Against All Odds' contributor, to talk about Cameroon's famous victory over Diego Maradona's World Cup-holding Argentina in Milan in 1990 - possibly the most extraordinary result in World Cup history and certainly one of the most extraordinary opening matches.We chat to Simon about the importance of that tournament but also the effects of that Cameroon team's run on football in their home country, which, it probably won't surprise you to learn, haven't been 100% positive.Thanks very much to Simon for coming on the pod and if you liked the episode, don't forget to pick up your copy of Against All Odds, like the podcast and subscribe to make sure you don't miss future episodes.

New year, new podcast! In this episode Rob and Adam are joined by sports writer and journalist Paul Doyle to discuss his phenomenal chapter in Against All Odds, in which Ireland overcame Italy 1-0 in the USA in 1994.We talk about Paul's unfortunate work commitments that meant he missed out on attending the game himself, the Jack Charlton effect and the changes that the game and indeed the Charlton era effected in Ireland at the time and since.Thanks very much to Paul for coming on and if you're interested in a copy of Against All Odds, you can get your hands on one (or more) at halcyonpublishing.co.uk.

Rejoice! The Halcyon Podcast is back for a second series in conversation with the great and the good of football writing.Loosely based on our new book Against All Odds (available from all good stockists), today Adam and Rob sit down with acclaimed author Harry Pearson to discuss his fabulous chapter in Against All Odds, which covers the USA amateurs' shock victory over England's (tired, jaded, overheating) professionals in 1950.We discuss the preconceptions and reactions to this momentous World Cup upset on both sides of the pond, and whether or not the old 10-1 / 1-0 reporting story is a complete myth or not.For Harry's brilliant chapter on this match, as well as a dozen others, head to our website to get your hands on a copy of the book.

Rejoice! The Halcyon Podcast is back for a second series in conversation with the great and the good of football writing.Loosely based on our new book Against All Odds (available from all good stockists), Adam meets up with South American football expert Tim Vickery to chat about a result that sent shockwaves through Brazil in 1950. Adam and Tim discuss the game, the tournament and the resulting fortunes from both sides of the story, exploring whether or not it was really an upset at all and the key role of historical and political context in telling the story.To get your hands on Tim's brilliant chapter on this match, as well as a dozen others, head to our website to get your hands Against All Odds.

Adam and Rob are joined by the legendary Patrick Barclay for a joyful journey down memory lane to the famed Dundee side of the early 1960s. Paddy talks to us about how he first fell for football at Dens Park and both the famous title win of '62 and subsequent European Cup campaign, back when the European Cup was for champions ONLY.We also talk to Paddy about his illustrious career in football writing, including the dread of the Saturday match report, pretending to be a player at the world's greatest stadia and even getting on the pitch at some of them (and then quickly off again). Paddy also shares his proudest by-lines with us and has some unexpected advice on the best way to extricate yourself from precarious situations in Medellin, the murder capital of the world.To read Paddy's outstanding chapter alongside 22 others, why not get yourself a copy of Jaws of Victory? And as ever, you can get in touch with us on Twitter @HalcyonPublish1 or @magicspongers.

Adam and Rob break with tradition to look at current affairs this week, specifically the Premier League 'Big Six''s affair with a closed-shop anti-competitive collective of glorified friendly-seekers. Ahem.They're joined by From the Jaws of Victory contributor and author of 'Can We Have Our Football Back', John Nicholson, who's written brilliantly on the subject for Football365 in the past ten days.We discuss the origins of both the Premier League and the Super League, and how much the very nature of football and society in England is geared around a model that encourages them to at best chance their arm, and at worst succeed, in completely monopolising the game. We also look at whether or not the Super League is inevitable at some point anyway, and John offers some small doses of optimism about how football could be revolutionised for the better, as well as going in two-footed on a couple of members of the Cabinet, which we've always got time for.As ever, you can get in touch with us on Twitter @HalcyonPublish1 or @magicspongers.

Adam and Rob are joined by the author of one of the best football books ever written, Pete Davies, whose book, All Played Out, so perfectly summed up the many highs and some lows of following England at Italia ‘90.This episode is all the more pertinent given the events of the past few days, as we discuss a time when the Premier League was merely a glint in Rupert Murdoch’s eye, when Gazzamania was born, when the tabloid press were even more vicious than now and when England made a splash as a glorious surprise, ending in no-less glorious defeat. We also discuss the (to a contemporary audience at least) unprecedented level of access that Pete gained to the England squad and Bobby Robson, their siege mentality born out of an exasperation with the British press, Pete’s travails around Italy and quite why that fateful semi-final lives so long in the memory of football romantics.Also covered is the how Pete wrote All Played Out in a mind-boggling 58 days, the ensuing writer’s block and how this pleasantly came to an end in 2017.  As ever, please rate and subscribe to the pod to keep getting more from us, and get in touch with us on Twitter @magicspongers or @HalcyonPublish1

Adam and Rob are joined by Neil Atkinson of the Anfield Wrap to discuss his brilliant From the Jaws of Victory chapter on the Liverpool side of 2013-14 and much more besides. We cover the various contributing factors to Neil's chapter being such an emotional punch in the face (in a good way) and the impact of 2013-14 on Liverpool's 2018-19 (very) near miss and their 2019-20 title victory. We also discuss how the club had to change in that time to gear itself up for two consecutive 90-point seasons and what the future holds for them and others in the Premier League, particularly once Guardiola buggers off. Away from football Neil tells us about the genesis and growth of the brilliant Anfield Wrap and its journey from a series of podcasts to civic institution (watch out York!), gives us some quality tips on who to read next and of course gives us possibly the captain of our Nearly Men XI, if we were to judge it on unfortunate prescient rallying calls.As ever, please rate and subscribe to the pod to keep getting more from us, and get in touch with us on Twitter @magicspongers or @HalcyonPublish1

Adam and Rob are joined from Berlin by the brilliant Uli Hesse, writer at 11 Freunde and author of - among other things - Tor! The Story of German football and Building the Yellow Wall.We discuss the nature of glorious defeat in Germany in relation to both the national team and Uli's club, Borussia Dortmund, as well as the relatively late-blooming Bundesliga and the remarkable fact that West Germany's 1954 World Cup win was achieved prior to professionalism in the country.Uli also takes us through the finer points of fan ownership, so often a standard-bearing idea in the UK, and we get the full story on whether RB Leipzig broke the rules and whether it can be said that they cheated (they did, and it can).We also talk to Uli about how he started his career, what it's like working full-time at a magazine now compared to freelancing and authoring, and his favourite football books and writers.As ever,  you can buy Jaws of Victory from us directly (or the ebook on Amazon if that's your thing), and follow us on Twitter @HalcyonPublish1 and @magicspongers

This week, Adam and Rob welcome minute-by-minute pioneer, author and Guardian stalwart Scott Murray to the pod to shine a light on the Matthews final in 1953, including whether Blackpool’s 4-3 win over Bolton should actually be named after hat-trick hero Stan Mortensen instead and how you might go about getting your name on a cup final anyway.We cover the role of television and the coronation in football consumption in the 50s, as well as the innate ridiculousness of not allowing subs on, even when players were hobbling around on one leg (or fewer). We also take a moment to celebrate the gentlemanly conduct of the olden days, despite overwhelming evidence that players were just as prone to kicking each other to pieces as they are now. Scott explains the birth and growth of the hugely popular minute by minutes at The Guardian and discusses his favourite things to write and read, mainly centred around the fact that – as we can all agree – football really shouldn’t be taken very seriously. You can read Scott’s brilliant chapter, as well as 22 more, by sticking From the Jaws of Victory in your shopping cart, direct from us at the Halcyon Publishing website, and say nice things to us on Twitter @magicspongers and @HalcyonPublish1 

Adam and Rob are joined by the multi-talented John Nicholson to talk about Middlesbrough's famous UEFA Cup run, in which Boro saw off a litany of big European names with a litany of big European comebacks. We talk to John about what's happened to football in the age of the Premier League, where the soul of the game is hiding these days and how we once wrote a very prescient article about Alan Pardew.John also share some insights from his journey into writing both football and non-football titles,  and nominates a nearly man for the XI. Unfortunately we don't get time to talk about Eddie van Halen, but we'll do that next time.John's books, in particular Can we have our football back? and Can we have our football back yet? can be found at www.johnnicholsonwriter.co.ukAnd, as ever, you can get From the Jaws of Victory from us at the Halcyon Publishing website, and follow/chat to us on Twitter @magicspongers and @HalcyonPublish1

We're joined by Andi Thomas to talk World Cups, statues, conspiracies and World Cup statue conspiracies as we revisit his brilliant Jaws of Victory chapter on the Wales side of 1958. A real 'What if' story, we also talk to Andi about how imagining and engaging with what could have been is a big, if not the biggest part of supporting a football team.We also chat about how Andi got into writing about football in the first place, notable people or stuff that he's read recently and Mel Charles misses out yet again as a fabled Welshman is put forward for the Nearly Men XI.If you're liking the pods and want to get in touch with us about football or books, we're @magicspongers and @HalyconPublish1Andi also mentions arguably Wales's greatest World Cup goal, scored by Ivor Allchurch, which is worth admiring ... 'the Hungarian goalkeeper wasn't amused' is a lovely touch.

From the Jaws of Victory contributor Rich Hall joins Adam and Rob to shed light on perhaps the greatest side we never saw at a World Cup. Marking something of a departure from the other chapters in the book, Rich explains how the Yugoslavia side weren’t beaten on the pitch, but were instead denied by history.Chucked out of Euro ‘92 just 11 days before the tournament began, leading the Danish to happily throw away their beach towels and then go on to win the thing, the world of football was robbed of a ‘could’ve been great’ Yugoslavia. We’ll be talking about USA ’94, wonderful Yugoslav playmakers, such as Dejan Savicevic, Dragan Stojkovic and Robert Prosinečki, and whether or not kicking a policeman in the head can start a war. If you want to talk about geopolitical matters or just the football, hit us up @magicspongers and @HalyconPublish1Rich also mentions a notable friendly between Brazil and Yugoslavia, played after the 1994 World Cup.

Rob and Adam are joined by Ross MacDonald, an as-yet-unknown percentage of The 1975, to talk about all manner of near misses, from being pipped at the post by David Ginola to hitting the post you may or may not have been aiming for on national television.As one of the top three or possibly two most famous Macclesfield Town fans, we also talk to Ross about what it means when your club ceases to exist overnight, especially when it returns very soon after in a same-but-different condition.Ross gives us his nomination for our Nearly Man XI, old Silverball(s) himself, Il Divin Codino, and admits to having read at least one chapter of From the Jaws of Victory.Join in the nostalgia/nonsense on Twitter @magicspongers and @HalcyonPublish1Enjoy! x

In the first ever episode of the Halcyon podcast, Adam and Rob are joined by... each other to introduce Halcyon and talk about their chapters in our latest book, From the Jaws of Victory.First up it's the Dutch and Johan Cruyff, the embodiment of style over substance, the exoticism of a World Cup in colour, and how losing one final might be considered unfortunate, but two...We also discuss Scotland's widely-heralded 1967 victory over England and attempt to place it in the context of a decade in which, success against the Auld Enemy aside, a vintage group of players took part in precisely no major tournaments. A different era to now, of course.Then we kick off our Nearly Men XI with two players you'd be very hard pushed to call Nearly Men, paving the way for future contributors to completely blow us out of the water.You can get stuck into us on social media @magicspongers and @HalcyonPublish1Enjoy! x

We Lose Every Week author Andrew Lawn is joined by Football Cliche's Adam Hurrey to discuss myriad elements of football chanting: including but not limited to origins, tunefulness, relevance, outlook and favourites.Get your copy of We Lose Every Week from us at Halcyon Publishing and check out Adam's excellent Football Cliches podcast on the Athletic

Andy reads another extract from We Lose Every Week, focusing on the origins, humour and art of self-deprecating football chanting.

A fascinating extract from We Lose Every Week, read by Andy Lawn, covering the naming, evolution and singing of Liverpool's famous Kop End.

It's another Halcyon podcast mini-series and in this one, we're focusing on the brilliant We Lose Every Week by Andrew Lawn. We Lose Every Week is a history of football chanting, from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century to its growth across the game and its effect on the people, clubs and societies in which it takes place.In this episode, Andy reads from the introduction of the book itself; we've got another couple of extracts hot on its heels and also a brilliant chinwag between Andy and the legendary Adam Hurrey of Football Cliches.You can get We Lose Every Week at a special price direct from the Halcyon website, or if you're particularly interested in monumental acts of self-sabotage to your own wallet, publishing and the world at large, you can also buy it in other places too. And if you'd like to be criticised about your inherent life choices further, why not follow us on Twitter or whatever it is now @HalcyonPublish1. 

An exclusive chat with Jonathan and The Stadio Podcast's Ryan Hunn.