Non-League Wanderers Main Stand Musings

The best podcast since Sliced Bread: The Podcast™

It's important that I preface this review by saying without reservation that I don't know anything about non-league football. You could count on the fingers of one finger the amount of non-league games I've been to watch. I barely understand the rules, I've heard of only a handful of the places involved much less any of the players, and I have minimal investment in any of the teams in any of the (non-)leagues (despite once having played the euphonium in a dazzling half-time extravaganza at Edgeley Park during an unedifying 3-1 loss to Peterborough). However, knowing absolutely nothing about your subject matter has never stopped Andrew Neil mouthing off about climate change, and it won't stop me thoroughly recommending Non-League Wanderers. The hosts clearly know their stuff, with a great pedigree of previous high-quality streamable content, and with their encyclopaedic knowledge of league and non-league football at times dazzling, at times intriguing, and at times deeply, deeply concerning. It's got everything - from homemade adverts for distant and health-code-violating curry houses, to the thrilling anticlimax when you discover that James has once again failed to guess "Who Am I" in the eponymous trivia section, to the in-jokes that I imagine all listeners will enjoy when there's been enough episodes for them to plausibly claim that they understand them. With upbeat and lighthearted reporting, but without compromising on a forensic appraisal of every match (including the long-awaited and side-splittingly-named 'Non-Leaguerboard'), it's the podcast you never knew you needed, wanted, or were prepared to tolerate. It's the Private Eye of sports journalism, without the half-baked cartoons and dodgy personal ads. It's Top Gear but no-one gets assaulted if the food is cold. It's Athletico Mince but I actually listen to it when I say I'm going to. It's the podcast your Dad would have made if he wasn't such a pathetic, mewling shell of a man without the wherewithal to follow through on his vision. It's quite possibly the best podcast ever made, but for fairness' sake it's also worth considering that it quite possibly isn't. Either way, it's an hour a week you wouldn't be putting to better use. Give it a listen. 5/5.