Moment of Truth

BBC Radio 5 Live
Moment of Truth

What does it take to be a football manager? We all think we can do it: pick a team to win a game, sign a couple of players who looked good on FIFA....I mean, we've all played Championship Manager right? The reality is very few people can ever truly master it, can deal with the torment, the anguish, the pain of defeat or even the blessed relief of victory. And what about putting their families and friends in the firing line of fans, the media and everyone else who has an opinion on how you do your job? For the last three months of the 2021/22 League One season, this podcast had unparalleled access to the life of a football manager as two teams battled to change their collective stories forever and win promotion to the Championship. From the dressing room to the training ground, the team bus to the technical area, Rotherham's Paul Warne and Oxford's Karl Robinson have worn microphones to record every single critical moment of the job during the tense and eventful run-in. You'll get to eavesdrop on how the personal reality of football management is a constant gnaw of sleepless nights, skipping meals and missing out on family life. You'll hear how the wives and children have to tiptoe around their disillusioned husbands following losses and you'll listen in to how they rarely enjoy those hard-fought victories. Narrated by Jimmy Nesbitt, Moment of Truth is an audio experience unlike any other that will give you an answer as to what it takes to manage a professional football club. This podcast is a love letter to our greatest game spread across 15 episodes. It's a rollercoaster ride through the footballing cauldron of League One where you get to sit on the bench of both teams as they battle to reach their Moment of Truth.

  1. 08/09/2022

    10. A Family Affair

    Despite the glorious afterglow of Oxford’s victory at Fleetwood, the club’s season is still in the balance. With three games left they sit eighth in the table, four points off the play-off places. With anything less than victory in their last three games spelling the end of Oxford’s season, Karl Robinson’s side must face his old team from Milton Keynes, where he and his family still live. In the moments before kick-off, Robinson is tense as he addresses his side. His pleas for them to stick together and play at their best, however, fall on deaf ears. The boss grows increasingly irate on the sidelines at the team’s lacklustre performance. At half-time he reads them the riot act, singling out individual players and tearing strips off them for their unacceptable errors and seeming lack of desire, which he says are costing the coaches and support staff their livelihoods. For Robinson, the match is personal. He was sacked by the chairman of MK Dons after six years at the helm and the ripple effects on wife Ann and daughter Jasmin were profound. In a fascinating portrait of family life with a football manager, Ann details how Karl’s ‘addiction’ to football saw them uproot their lives from Liverpool and nearly cost them their 18-year marriage. She says how much she dislikes “football Karl” as opposed to “husband Karl” and how difficult it has been navigating their lives alongside Karl’s job. The abuse the family has faced has particularly impacted Jasmin’s childhood. She suffered bullying at school over the performance of her dad’s teams and has learnt to avoid her dad after losses. Karl tearfully remembers the lowest point in his life after the death of his close personal friend Andy King, which drove Karl to the edge of despair. Back at the Kassam Stadium for the second half of the MK Dons match, tension is relieved by Billy Bodin’s late winner which keeps Oxford’s play-off hopes alive – and inadvertently helps Rotherham stay second, despite their defeat to Burton. The two sides will face each other next, in the following episode. Karl reflects on their victory over his former team. “It’s amazing how quickly things change in football,” he says.

    35 min
  2. 01/09/2022

    9. An Easter Rising

    As the season draws to a close, tensions in the Rotherham dressing room are starting to boil over after a 3-0 loss to Portsmouth. Manager Paul Warne is trying to dissect why his side is self-imploding having previously been top of the league. The post-mortem lasts half an hour before Warne has to address the waiting press. As night falls, Warne reveals that he’s considering his position and that this may be his lowest moment in management. He talks of the abuse fans have been shouting at him and how much he is dreading speaking to the club owner about the side’s performance. Sounding exhausted with how frustrating his job has become, he mentions how lonely he felt on the sidelines. Like Rotherham, Oxford have also suffered three straight defeats. They need to win each of their last four to give themselves any chance of making the play-offs. Rotherham need to stop a slide that’s seen them take just five points from the last available 21. As The U’s travel up to Fleetwood for the Easter Friday game, anything less than a win would be enough to end their season. The pressure, not only on the staff and players but their families, is beginning to show. Karl Robinson’s mum Carol talks about her own stress watching the games and how the abuse Karl has received from fans has affected their family. Despite the tension, Oxford takes a quick 3-0 lead and just manage to hang on to a 3-2 victory during nine minutes of stoppage time. The win keeps their season alive but at the cost of midfielder James Henry, who is taken to hospital for two hours of facial surgery after a sickening clash of heads. He will be lost for the rest of the season. Ahead of Rotherham’s fixture against Ipswich, Warne’s family are also feeling the pressure. His wife Rachel worries that her husband hasn’t been sleeping and dreads the abuse from fans if the side goes a goal down. In the tunnel, Paul says it is the most scared he has ever felt. Fortunately for the Warnes, Michael Smith nets a 78th-minute winner for Rotherham and favourable other results mean The Millers were now back in automatic promotion places – albeit on goal difference. For one night, there is relief. How quickly the picture can change.

    34 min
4.5
out of 5
97 Ratings

About

What does it take to be a football manager? We all think we can do it: pick a team to win a game, sign a couple of players who looked good on FIFA....I mean, we've all played Championship Manager right? The reality is very few people can ever truly master it, can deal with the torment, the anguish, the pain of defeat or even the blessed relief of victory. And what about putting their families and friends in the firing line of fans, the media and everyone else who has an opinion on how you do your job? For the last three months of the 2021/22 League One season, this podcast had unparalleled access to the life of a football manager as two teams battled to change their collective stories forever and win promotion to the Championship. From the dressing room to the training ground, the team bus to the technical area, Rotherham's Paul Warne and Oxford's Karl Robinson have worn microphones to record every single critical moment of the job during the tense and eventful run-in. You'll get to eavesdrop on how the personal reality of football management is a constant gnaw of sleepless nights, skipping meals and missing out on family life. You'll hear how the wives and children have to tiptoe around their disillusioned husbands following losses and you'll listen in to how they rarely enjoy those hard-fought victories. Narrated by Jimmy Nesbitt, Moment of Truth is an audio experience unlike any other that will give you an answer as to what it takes to manage a professional football club. This podcast is a love letter to our greatest game spread across 15 episodes. It's a rollercoaster ride through the footballing cauldron of League One where you get to sit on the bench of both teams as they battle to reach their Moment of Truth.

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada