It’s all kicking off now - big time

Highlights of the week Your soundtrack to the new football season

With the new football season upon us the range of pre and post-match listening is ever growing. For simple news and big-name interviews the range is dominated by bigger media corporations, although there’s a pleasingly cynical take on the Premier League in Sky’s The Gary Neville Podcast. Similarly, That Peter Crouch Podcast (right) is delivered with a dollop of selfeffacing humour.

But delving into the lower reaches – whether in terms of celebrity status, or the football played – will generate most entertainment, which is, let’s face it, often what we need after a 5-0 defeat at Forest Green.

And there’s good cheer guaranteed on Kammy & Ben’s Proper Football Podcast – Good Morning Britain host and West Ham fan Ben Shephard, joined by former international and now pundit (and crooner) Chris Kamara, the journeyman ’80s player better known for his hysterical half-time reports from windswept press boxes. However, for serious fans who want the inside track on the top league, The Footballer’s Footballer sees West Ham striker Michail Antonio joined by England international Callum Wilson asking the hard questions, such as “Do footballers earn too much?” and “Is diving, the scourge of the game?” Newcastle forward Wilson says: “We live, breathe and sleep football, so to get our perspective on the game is something a little bit different.” As well as this season’s preview there’s a full archive available, though it’s a shame that the pair started their recordings after Newcastle’s takeover by the Saudi Arabian state.

You can still bask in the glory of England’s Lionesses’ victory as Football Ramble which devoted several episodes per week to Euro 22 among its daily episodes, while the weekly roundup on The Women’s Football Podcast offers exactly what its name suggests.

Scottish football has seen one conjoined club of Celtic/Rangers dominate its leagues for nigh on 40 years, but The Terrace covers the divisions from top to bottom, as does the fanzine-based Nutmeg. Similarly, the podcast offshoot of Englishcentred When Saturday Comes has hosts with knowledgeable of the whole of Planet Soccer, as well as a line in irreverent hu- mour.

With 92 league clubs in England alone, recommending just one is asking for trouble, but if Plymouth Argyle fans can stomach it, there is much of interest in David Earl and Joe Wilkinson’s tale of becoming a fan of My New Football Club – Exeter City.

Finally, a fictional side to follow. Despite Bob Mortimer’s co-host being Andy Dawson rather than Vic Reeves, Athletico Mince contains possibly even more in the way of surreal humour. “It’s not really about football,” they say, which given the range already available may be no

bad thing.