Football Ruined My Life Jon Holmes, Patrick Barclay, Colin Shindler, Paul Kobrak

In this episode, the panel is talking about the maverick.  Not the old tv series of the same name starring James Garner but the flair players who didn’t necessarily fit into the team ethic.  Think Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Charlie George, Tony Currie and Rodney Marsh to name but five.  How weird that they were all playing at the end of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s.  Why were there so many mavericks then?  Were there none before and none since then?  The Brains Trust scratches its collective head and suggests some possible answers.
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In the second of our occasional podcasts about specific years, we are looking at 1974 when Jon Holmes, Paddy Barclay and Colin Shindler were all in their early, mid or medium late 20s. It’s the year that began with power shortages due to a miners’ strike and the imposition of the three day week. Inflation was running at nearly 18% and of course ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest. In football, Leeds won the League and Liverpool won the Cup after which both their managers left. Brian Clough lasted just 44 days as manager of Leeds United and Harold Wilson won two general elections in the same year but for Colin, the greatest moment of that momentous year was being at Old Trafford to watch Denis Law backheel Manchester United into the Second Division. What were your memories of 1974?
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For our 50th edition, we’ve cooked up a very special episode – not only have we taken to the road (to the very farthest corner of East Anglia) but we’ve sourced the author of the Complete Illustrated Cookery Course.  The panel is extremely well fed for their trouble by one of the owners of Norwich City, who is the only football director to publish over 1400 mouth-watering recipes.  For a thoroughly satisfying gluten free edition of Football Ruined My Life try the new improved Delia Smith episode.  Here’s one we made earlier with lots of delicious chocolate covered football chat.
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This is the episode about those big lads with heads squashed flat and brains curdled into early onset dementia by the constant heading of old fashioned leather footballs that weighed the same as a cannonball after it had been soaked by rain and coated in mud.  From the time that Herbert Chapman withdrew the middle of the half backs to play between the two full backs we always recognised the centre half as the bulwark of the defence.  Paddy Barclay, Jon Holmes and Colin Shindler discuss the way in which these immobile centre halves became more sophisticated until we got the emergence of the skilful and mobile central defender who can now attack and defend with equal facility.
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The Easter special podcast sees the Football Ruined My Life panel fielding another round of questions, observations and suggestions from their listeners. Listeners who are quick to seize their own chance to comment on yesterday’s football and how it evokes such strong memories of their younger days as supporters. The letters are by turn critical, laudatory, amusing and perceptive. The panellists in turn are quick to proffer thanks to the writers, even those who take pleasure in correcting their fallible memories, and gratitude for their suggestions for future podcasts.  
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We are joined this week by Baron Grade of Yarmouth, previously Michael Grade, who has, at various times, been Controller of BBC1, Chairman of ITV and Chief Executive of Channel 4.  However for all the company directorships and his elevation to the House of Lords we meet on equal footing as football fans because his admirably steadfast passion down the years has been for Charlton Athletic FC.  Amongst a host of amusing and revealing anecdotes, he tells us about how he orchestrated the infamous Snatch of the Day when clever little ITV under his skilful guidance nipped the ball off the giant lumbering centre half that was the BBC.  It’s hard to imagine anyone better qualified than Michael to talk about football and television.
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