A Football Report

The Final Countdown - AFR Voice. Ep 19

The pod wraps up all of the last day action of the Premier League with a focus on the North London scrabble for a Champions League place and we wave off Sir Alex Ferguson, Jamie Carragher, Paul Scholes and Michael Owen to name a few. We even highlight the chance to own Sir Alex’s final piece of gum chewed as the Manchester United manager.

With the final day in the English top tier proving relatively sedate, we headed to Europe for some end of season drama: AC Milan and Schalke stealing a last gasp Champions League spots, Atletico Madrid grabbing the Copa del Rey, and a tearful farwell in Paris to one man; one beautiful, moisturised man. Across the pond meanwhile, there’s all the breaking developments with NYC FC, and AFR chief Eric Beard’s not so subtle ways of potentially recruiting players for the new franchise.

The European love-in continued at great pace courtesy of pod member and Chelsea fan Alex who regaled his experience of watching the Europa League final live in the Amsterdam Arena. Armed with the trusty AFR dictaphone, he provided an entertaining and pulsating account of another glorious night on the continent for The Blues.

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Business Time - AFR Voice, Ep 18.

It’s early May, which in footballing terms generally means one thing: it’s business time. And AFR Voice is punching in for this week’s audio shift with plenty to talk about. Whether it be a 33-man match in Norway, horror challenges on reporters in Denmark, or the hottest thing out of the Madrid branch of IKEA since someone burnt the meatballs, we’ve got it covered.

The Premier League title may be all wrapped up and tucked away safely in Manchester, but there’s still plenty to play for. We’ll be taking a look at the cross-London melee for the final Champions League places, whilst at the other end, any team not in the top half of the table will be nervously looking over their shoulders as Wigan make their customary late push for survival (if they’re not too busy winning the FA Cup).

Then we hop down into the lower leagues where there was a crazy final day in the Championship, and Paddy waxes lyrical about the play-offs as the league pyramid continues to shuffle itself for a couple more weeks yet.

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AFR Voice Special - Graeme Le Saux & Faye White

The Champions League trophy has landed in London and AFR Voice can proudly say it had a hand in the journey after UEFA kindly invited us to see the famous big-eared trophy travel through the capital. The curvaceous silverware was transported via tube, taxi and London bus on it’s way to the home of English football for the glamour final.

You can watch the rather unusual journey here. 

Happily, we hopped on the bus to speak to the cup’s security guard for the day, Chelsea, Blackburn and England legend Graeme Le Saux. He told us about his Champions League experiences, what he makes of Jose Mourinho’s mooted return to Chelsea, and his take on the controversially late kick off for the FA Cup final. 

In this interview special pod, we also spoke to ex-England women’s captain Faye White who was marshalling the women’s trophy through the sea of star-struck and slightly bemused commuters. We chatted about the health of the women’s game, the pros and cons of wearing a protective mask in the biggest game of your life and whether Arsene Wenger should get the boot.

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Chewy Suarez - AFR Voice Ep. 17

The Premier League title race may be all wrapped up, but AFR Voice is by no means finished with the season just yet. With plenty of football still to be played, we’ll be taking a look this week at the movers and shakers in England and abroad, as well as discussing the latest artificial playing surface controversy to hit Norway, managerial frat parties in Eastern Europe, and Manchester United’s Shinji Kagawa playing Dr. Dolittle in one of the most bizarre TV commercials that we’ve ever seen for a Japanese broadband provider.

We’ve also got an exclusive interview with ex-Blackburn, Chelsea, Southampton and England left-back maestro Graeme Le Saux, who has been talking to Ben about all things Champions League as the famous trophy makes its way to Wembley for next month’s final.

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Relegation Delegation - AFR Voice Ep. 16

Okay okay, as much as we try, we can’t seriously muster the belief that the Premier League title race has been blown wide open, even if Manchester City did triumph against their neighbours on Monday. After speeding through the Manchester derby, we pulled up and rubbernecked the almighty scramble for survival at the foot of the table. Whilst Aston Villa have really hit top gear and Stoke continue to stall, Reading and QPR are now surely all set for the scrapyard? Amongst our relegation predictions we discuss Gabriel Agbonlahor’s scoring record, Paolo Di Canio’s promising debut at Stamford Bridge and Newcastle amazing knack of scoring crucial last minute goals.

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The Long Road to Rio - AFR Voice Ep 15

We may be in the middle of an International break but AFR Voice isn’t taking a time out. No sir. We’ve got our passports out and spend this week’s podcast picking up some serious air miles as we charge around the globe bringing you everything you need to know about the World Cup qualifiers on 5 different continents.

So as teams from around the world have pulled out of the international lay-by and got back on the road to Brazil 2014, we start off by looking at the delicately poised groups in Europe, discuss if a pre-qualifying stage for so-called International “minnows” is a good idea, and look at the possibility of Montenegro installing trap doors under the pitch against England in an act of gamesmanship.

Then it’s off around the world where the USMNT have been fighting snow, frost and Costa Rica in the Hex, Lionel Messi has been getting some extra camera time in South America, and New Zealand have qualified top of the Oceania group (but Shane Smeltz has still been left with a qualification headache).

There’s also time for a quick round-up of all of the week’s MLS action, a special look at the Australian A-League (where it really is business time), plus we discuss what it takes to get the Blackburn managerial job, and why everything on Wikipedia must be true.

Get in touch with the team to mock Paddy’s poor betting selections, suggest more leagues to cover, or anything else for that matter - tweet us on @AFRvoice, or email afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also subscribe to AFR Voice on iTunes and find us on Soundcloud. Do it.

Swans Glide into Europe - AFR Voice Ep.13

Was the Capital One League Cup Final the biggest fairy-tale final of all time? With Swansea’s remarkable resurgence since flirting with relegation to non-league football in 2003 and Bradford’s relentless giant-slaying cup run, it was a game where any result could be cherished – and cherish it we do, with a full match analysis and examination of each club’s heart-warming stories.

After that resplendent walk in a field of football calm, we scamper through the weekend’s high-octane Premier League games and it’s Tottenham Hotspur who are getting all of our attention – great coach, world class talisman, likeable players - we’ve got a stranger feeling in our stomachs… we think we’ve fallen in love with Spurs.

Talking of the North London side, we’ll be talking to Tottenham and Liverpool legend Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock. Larger than life, choc-full of anecdotes and hearty belly-laughs – he tells us all about his famous dust-up with Eric Cantona, Liverpool’s current prospects and his old ties with Paolo Di Canio, which seamlessly enough draws us into a look at the bizarre goings on at the League One club.

In our final leg, we receive a preview of the new MLS season courtesy of a severely jet-lagged Alex and we merrily skip around the European Leagues. Whilst the championships may be pretty much over in Bundesliga, La Liga and Seria A, we turn to the red-hot chases for Champions League places instead, including a hard-fought Milan derby. Although, there really is only one news story in town; Diego Maradona (and his lawyers) return to Italian soil for the first time in 8 years!

All that, plus news of plans to erect slides at St James’s Park (we kid you not), and considerable salivation over some truly special goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Papiss Cisse and Rafael.

You can get in touch with the team by tweeting @AFRvoice or emailing afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also subscribe to AFR Voice on iTunes and find us on Soundcloud. Do it.

Africa Cup Of Nations Debrief - AFR Voice Ep.12

What a couple of weeks it’s been in the world of football. We start with an interview with ESPN FC’s Mark Lomas to talk all things African Cup of Nations, before discussing the possible implications of the Europol match fixing scandal, what it means for football, and if there is a solution to the problem.

Elsewhere (in case you hadn’t noticed) David Beckham has signed for PSG, the Premier League has seen one of its finest own goals, and England have pretty much made themselves favourites to win next year’s World Cup. So strap in and let the latest edition of AFR Voice take you through all of the issues that you need to know (as well as plenty of stuff that you don’t), including bridal showers at the Bernabéu, a delightful selection of carpets in Turkey, and a new kind of card being brandished by referees in the Greek lower leagues.

We’ll also be taking time to get under the skin of this weekend’s Premier League action and decide if Manchester United already have the title sown up, before heading overseas to discuss toiler humour in Germany, running baths in France, and just how the USMNT are going to fight their way out of the most sinister-sounding of World Cup qualifying rounds – the Hex.

As always, you can get in touch with the team by tweeting @AFRvoice or emailing afrvoice@gmail.com.