Libero

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Join via liberopodcast.com. --- This time of year isn’t just about trophies and titles, it’s about trying to stay in the Premier League and this year will be the toughest route to survival in a generation. On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, John Brewin and Jonathan Wilson look at the survival battle, and the question of finding the optimal strategy to stay up. Has the traditional fire-fighter - Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis - been left behind by the modern game? Or do struggling clubs still want the same things, just delivered by a younger man? And when Tottenham have appointed one of the world’s most interesting coaches in Roberto de Zerbi as their fire-fighter, what does that tell us about their own chances of staying up? Also, our friends at the TheS**thouses have figured out how we attribute the quote at the start of every pod, check it out and have a go yourself here. P1: (07:14) P2: (33:41) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Join our Discord @Libero Podcast Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Sign up at liberopodcast.com. --- What’s happened with the tickets for this summer is an absolute scandal but soaring prices is a trend that has an impact way beyond the World Cup. The exploitation of the match-going fan have seen tickets become tradable assets for the market to set the price for, all the while diminishing the value of the experience that is being put in the shop window. Rory Smith, Tariq Panja and Jonathan Wilson try to figure out how this been allowed to happen, as well as the long-term implications for football. P1: (05:42) P2: (35:54) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com. --- From peace prizes to golden baubles, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has made it his mission to shower the US president in praise and treasure, while in the process inserting himself into Donald Trump’s inner circle. As Trump directs a bombing campaign on Iran, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja ask whether Infantino’s personal ambitions risk irreparable harm to the beauty of the World Cup and football itself? P1: (00:28) P2: (33:15) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are still in the soft launch phase of ⁠SC Libero⁠, but getting on the bandwagon early will give you the chance to lock-in a pay-what-you-want price for an annual subscription until we figure out exactly what perks we give to members. Take advantage of us now at ⁠liberopodcast.com⁠. --- Thomas Tuchel was appointed to the England job with one clear aim: to win the 2026 World Cup. The question on today’s episode, with Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and John Brewin, is whether he is on the right track. Tuchel’s England were immaculate in qualifying but they lack depth, as they showed against Uruguay on Friday, and are as dependent on Harry Kane as ever. So can he do what Gareth Southgate could not? And what are the differences between the approach of the two men? P1: (09:37) P2: (27:51) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join SC Libero! Our members’ only offering is now live, in a soft way. We're starting you off with ad-free episodes, but a host of other benefits are in what we call 'the pipeline'. Sign up now at liberopodcast.com and you get to pay what you want, because we’re suckers. --- All of football’s great nations used to have their own distinctive styles. Brazil meant Jogo Bonito. Italy meant defensive grit. Germany were ruthlessly efficient, the Netherlands inspirationally artistic, and England stuck it where it belonged: in the mixer. But as football has globalised, have those individual styles started to disappear? In today’s Libero, Jonathan Wilson, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss where national football identity came from, what it represented, and whether it has disappeared. P1: (07:23) P2: (35:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com. --- Chelsea’s fine for secret payments from the Premier League between 2011 and 2018 might have been a record £10 million but within the game that punishment and suspended transfer ban have brought complaints of leniency. Do off-book payments that secured the likes of Eden Hazard sully the club’s successes during that period under Roman Abramovich’s ownership? Is that leniency protecting the Premier League product? And now, post-Abramovich, how is the club faring under the ownership of asset managers and venture capitalists. Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja discuss the then and now with John Brewin. P1: (06:01) P2: (38:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com. --- Sunday’s Carabao Cup final could be a historic day for Arsenal. It is their first final since they won the 2020 FA Cup and could mark the start of a glorious climax to the 2025/26 season. On today’s episode Rory Smith, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jonathan Wilson ask what it would mean for Mikel Arteta to win his second major trophy as Arsenal manager and reflect on the club's wilderness years reaching back to thir last Premier League title under Arsene Wenger in 2003/04. Was it to do with the lack of investment? Or an out-dated decision making structure? So have Arsenal stepped into the future, or have they just found a modern manager? P1: (07:13) P2: (29:06) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For all of the Premier League's clubs financial advantages over their European rivals, they are facing a wipeout in the Champions League. Is it fatigue? Is it tactics? Is it a massive waste of resources? Or are Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Tariq Panja going to looking a bit silly on Thursday? P1: (01:36) P2: (28:26) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Atmosphere is one of the Premier League’s biggest selling points to broadcasters, but ask anyone who regularly goes to games and they will tell you that atmospheres in English grounds are in stark decline. If we do accept that atmospheres are getting worse, why is that? On today’s episode John Brewin, Jack Pitt-Brooke and James Horncastle try to unpack what exactly we mean when we talk about a ‘good atmosphere’, and whether we are taking a selective view of English football's vibrant year gone by. P1: (02:41) P2: (31:19) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Libero might like knocking the Champions League, but even we know there's nothing like European knock-out football for compelling drama. But with six English clubs in the last 16 and Manchester City playing Real Madrid, again, is this really as exciting as it should be? Is this as good as it once was? This week on Libero, Miguel Delaney, Tariq Panja and Rory Smith ask when the Champions League was at its best, what it was that made it so special, and whether that can be recaptured. P1: (10:45) P2: (37:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every year football's rich and powerful gather at a West London hotel to do deals, shake hands and talk about the game in a way would be quite unfamiliar to anyone not in the posh seats at 3pm on a Saturday. Several Liberi were in attendance at the recent FT Business of Football Summit, so they found a quiet corridor to discuss what they'd overheard at the conference, as well as the detachment between those who seek to profit from football and the game itself. You'll hear from Tariq Panja, Rory Smith, Miguel Delaney and James Horncastle. There's also a fabulous cameo from The Mirror's John Cross. P1: (00:27) P2: (25:03) Produced by: Tom Bassam, who apologises for the lack of proper video on this episode. Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In recent years it has felt as if the Premier League was permanently stratified, with the poor teams unable to win and the rich teams unable to lose. But Tottenham Hotspur have the ninth biggest revenue in Europe and they are at increasing risk of going down. On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, John Brewin and Jonathan Wilson discuss the possibility of Spurs’ relegation from the top flight. Jonathan tells the story of their relegation in the 1970s, and the team ask whether that is comparable to a big team going down in 2026. Because if Spurs do go - and they still have a four point gap - what would it mean for English football? Would it tell us that the Premier League is in fact starting to de-stratify? P1: (05:39) P2: (27:34) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is – it turns out – quite difficult to pin down an accurate definition of what 'bottling it' means and, therefore, which teams can be fairly described as having committed this failure of will in the past. Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson give it their best shot at outlining the true meaning of the phrase and discuss the most famous 'bottle jobs' in football history. With the nerve of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal being severely tested as they seek to end a 26-year wait for a Premier League title, are we about to see another egregious example of 'bottling it' or would it be unfair to apply that description to this Gunners side? All covered in a landmark episode of Libero. P1: (02:43) P2: (27:46) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jose Mourinho will take his Benfica team back to Real Madrid on Wednesday night, trying to get through to the last-16 of the Champions League. It is now almost 13 years since Mourinho left Real Madrid but his three year spell there remains one of the most interesting periods in modern football. Never before or since has Florentino Perez handed over the keys to a coach so determined to work against his players rather than with them. On today’s episode John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Jack Pitt-Brooke look back at Mourinho’s time at Real, the triumph of the 2011-12 La Liga win and the toxic descent in his final year. Was this the peak of his career? Or was it the turning point before it all started to go wrong? P1: (06:26) P2: (36:48) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s Champions League punishment round week, which means clubs who were among the biggest and best in Europe 10 years ago are slogging it out to make it through to the last-16. The question on today’s show is what these sides - especially Juventus, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund - can realistically achieve in a European game that is now stacked against them. Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tariq Panja and James Horncastle discuss whether they ever build a competitive team to last, or whether they will just get picked off by the vultures at the first sign of success. And if they can’t hope to win any more, are they left with a sense of identity that they can fall back on? P1: (10:28) P2: (31:50) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a world where Jack Grealish becomes 'The Rest Station' and Jürgen Klopp insists that no playmaker can be as effective as counter-pressing, it is fair to say that the game's creative geniuses are being marginalised like never before. Has systems football stunted players' ability to think for themselves? Do free spirits have no place in modern tactics? A trio of Libero mavericks, Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson, attempt some free-thinking to discover the root cause of this troubling trend. P1: (01:53) P2: (27:44) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another week, another manager departed from the big chair at a traditional English heavyweight. It turns out Dr Tottenham does not have a cure for the club's own malaise and so Thomas Frank must go. Are Spurs trapped in a gilded cage of being the Premier League's sixth biggest club? Are the demands in north London unreasonable? Where will the Lewis family turn for their first appointment of the post-Daniel Levy era? John Brewin, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson pick through the issues. P1: (02:00) P2: (31:15) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Resisting the temptation to get distracted by VAR, John Brewin, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Rory Smith discuss the more immediate consequences of Manchester City’s win at Anfield. It was a result that leaves Arne Slot with no margin for error as he tries to keep his job, but does it also tell us something about Pep Guardiola’s future? Is his new-found activist streak evidence that he’s in his final few months in the Premier League? And if he is, what will we talk about once a fortnight on Libero once he goes? P1: (06:28) P2: (36:32) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There has been no bigger change to football in the 21st century than VAR. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and Tariq Panja want to do more than just complain about it, and the harm that it has done to the modern game. They also want to explore how we got into this position, from Gianni Infantino replacing Sepp Blatter through to its introduction at the 2017 Confederations Cup. We are now about to head into our third men’s World Cup with VAR, and it does feel like a permanent part of the game. So is there any reason for optimism? The team discuss potential tweaks to VAR to improve it. And then whether we can ever be optimistic about bottom-up change, fans standing up together against VAR, and changing football for good. P1: (5:28) P2: (31:31) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Libero’s lifetime, the panelists have regularly lamented the spectacle served up by the Premier League, but after a bumper weekend, Rory Smith, James Horncastle and John Brewin dwell on whether we’re actually a bit spoilt and if viewers standards have risen with the quality of the football on offer. Drowned out by the often negative online noise, Libero remembers to enjoy itself in this episode, focusing on what’s still great about ‘our league’. P1: (03:43) P2: (27:36) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"In the middle area of the pitch, those 24 metres, we feel the game has become stuck, particularly in the Premier League. Everybody has so much information now.” These were the words of Anthony Barry, Thomas Tuchel's number two, back in November, when discussing the what England players face week-to-week in the Premier League. On this episode, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith discuss to what lengths that is true, why the game has developed in this way and what is being left behind as physicality becomes football's default setting. P1: (04:28) P2: (32:02) Visit MedExpress.co.uk to check your eligibility and get 30% off with code LIBERO. Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wednesday sees the climax of the Champions League's 144-game 'league phase', a TV bonanza featuring 18 fixtures, after which we will know who made the top eight, who faces the punishment round and who goes home. It's thrilling stuff, we're told. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and Tariq Panja discuss the second season of the new format and wonder whether the pay-off is worth the long slog. With six English teams vying for a spot in the top eight, it feels like the most Premier League dominated Champions League season yet. So why don’t English teams win the competition more often? And is this imbalance actually more of a problem than the format itself? P1: (09:40) P2: (31:01) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Frank may have delayed his departure with that surprisingly comfortable win over Borussia Dortmund, but that is only the tip of Tottenham’s problems. What is the club’s strategy? What do they want to be? Do they no longer have a sense of quest? To answer all of that are Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith. P1: (05:14) P2: (29:21) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was supposed to be the smoothest running Africa Cup of Nations in tournament history, all the edges levelled off. Then came Sunday’s final and unbelievable scenes in Rabat: dodgy penalties, an even dodgier Panenka, Brahim Diaz’s tears, riot police and Senegal denying what had looked a triumph custom-designed for the Moroccan hosts. That Jonathan Wilson was there to see it - his 12th AfCon final, no less - grants Libero an eyewitness account of the drama, while John Brewin, also a visitor to the tournament, shares his thoughts and experiences of ground-hopping in Morocco. Tariq Panja joins them to consider the political implications of AfCon’s change to every four years, and the influence of Gianni Infantino on a decision few appear comfortable with or understand. P1: (00:49) P2: (28:52) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via ⁠[email protected]⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠@liberopod⁠ Follow us on X ⁠@podcast_libero⁠ Follow us on Bluesky ⁠@liberopodcast.bsky.social⁠ Follow us on Instagram ⁠@liberopod⁠ Follow us on TikTok ⁠@liberopod⁠ Follow us on Facebook ⁠@liberopod⁠ Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He might have been a playing legend but that ended up counting for nothing as Xabi Alonso became the latest Real Madrid manager to be crushed between the weight of galacticos and the biggest Madrileno of them all, Florentino Perez. Was it doomed from the start? Good luck then, Alvaro Arbeloa, with taming the beast. Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith join John Brewin to discuss football’s most preposterous and haughty club. Has Xabi’s reputation as one of the best coaches in world football suffered? Does the white storm still possess the power of old? Are the galacticos as good as they think they are? P1: (02:24) P2: (28:24) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rory Smith enjoyed going viral for his rant against Chelsea's egregious exploitation of Ligue 1 'sister club' Strasbourg so much that he wanted to make a whole podcast about it. Luckily, James Horncastle was keen to provide operatic hosting duties and Miguel Delaney has an opinion on the issue, so we did. Covered is the morality of the multi-club groups, the shades of grey offered by different approaches and, if any, the logic behind the concept. P1: (01:05) P2: (34:09) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? On today’s Libero, Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and James Horncastle explore how the sackings of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim shed light on where power lies at Manchester United, Chelsea and in the modern Premier League. Is it with the manager? Or is it with the faceless technocrats in the front office? P1: (02:38) P2: (34:34) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Libero is not a coach. It is a manager. It has always wanted to be Ruben Amorim. Even on the day he was sacked by Manchester United. Rory Smith, James Horncastle and Tariq Panja unite to discuss the downfall of the radically honest Amorim, what his defenestration means for Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s project and whether United can ever be saved. P1: (01:25) P2: (34:09) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the first Libero of 2026 and here to pick up the pieces of the festive period are Tariq Panja, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson. In a World Cup year the panel make some bold, and some less bold, predictions about what football has in store over the next 12 months and potentially even further into the future. P1: (04:46) P2: (28:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via ⁠[email protected]⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠@liberopod⁠ Follow us on X ⁠@podcast_libero⁠ Follow us on Bluesky ⁠@liberopodcast.bsky.social⁠ Follow us on Instagram ⁠@liberopod⁠ Follow us on TikTok ⁠@liberopod⁠ Follow us on Facebook ⁠@liberopod⁠ Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the year nears its end, Miguel Delaney, Tariq Panja, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jonathan Wilson take the opportunity to look back at 2025 to pick out football's major narratives. P1: (10:04) P2: (33:30) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Brewin, Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith, Tariq Panja and Jonathan Wilson have all had a bit too much on Christmas Day and are ready to get into it with some of their pet hates in football. Pull up a chair, pour another Baileys and join us for the bit of Christmas dinner when everyone lets themself down a bit. Want to join in? Let us know your biggest football gripe in the comments. P1: (01:50) P2: (34:06) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Black tie, ballgowns and montages... it's the Libero Personality of the Year award. Rory Smith is your host for this glittering event, where he is joined by the judging panel of John Brewin, Tariq Panja, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jonathan Wilson to crown the winner of this loosely defined prize for the figure who defined football in 2025. Did we get it right? Let us know in the comments. P1: (4:41) P2: (29:58) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's basic supply and demand, right? Fifa has stunned most of the world by making the 2026 World Cup the most expensive tournament ever for the match-going fan, with dynamic ticket prices that could see its flagship event deliver as much as $14 billion in revenues, because - ultimately - that is what football is all about. Here to question why the football powers that be are milking fans, the game's lifeblood, dry are John Brewin, Tariq Panja and Rory Smith. P1: (02:23) P2: (36:42) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Manchester City racked up another Premier League win this weekend, beating Crystal Palace 3-0 with another display of their new direct, powerful individualistic style. Their change of direction this season has shown us a new side of Pep Guardiola, more pragmatic, more ruthless, and back in the hunt for the title. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and Jonathan Wilson discuss City’s improving form and ask whether this new Guardiola is more akin to Sir Alex Ferguson or even Carlo Ancelotti. But while City chase their ninth Premier League title in the Abu Dhabi era, the Saudi project at Newcastle United is making slower progress four years on. Discussion turns to why Newcastle have found it hard to emulate City’s success, ask whether they will ever have a moment like the one in 2012 that set up City’s era of dominance. P1: (03:45) P2: (30:47) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With six months to go until the newly-expanded greatest show on Earth, today’s Libero considers what a World Cup designed by FIFA, Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump will look like. Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and Miguel Delaney ask how the football will play out, what the fan experience will feel like, and how political the whole event might be. Visit nordvpn.com/libero to get four extra months on a two-year plan with NordVPN. P1: (05:50) P2: (36:04) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus." These were the words of Mo Salah after Liverpool's dispiriting 3-3 draw with Leeds at the weekend. A match where Salah, last season's top scorer and the club's perennial talisman, did not make it off the substitutes bench. As Liverpool's title defence melts away amid a multitude of problems beyond the misfiring Egyptian, why does it appear Salah appear to be heading for the exit, how has it comes to this and why do heroes so rarely get the goodbyes they want? John Brewin, Jonathan Wilson and Miguel Delaney try to answer those questions, and others, on the latest Libero. P1: (2:57) P2: (27:44) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Session Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rory Smith is joined by John Brewin and James Horncastle, who – like the anxious middle-aged men they are – are seeking refuge in the past. But a past that informs our present in a way that is actually quite odd, because in many ways it does feel like football can’t quite escape the 1990s. Today's kits are based on designs from the 90s, the famous pundits who shape how we understand the game, largely started their playing careers in the 90s. We're still listening to Oasis. Why is this? Is this obsession with the not-too-distant past unique to our current era? Are we bound to 'Live Forever', forever? P1: (08:19) P2: (33:03) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠⁠@liberopod⁠⁠ Follow us on X ⁠⁠@podcast_libero⁠⁠ Follow us on Bluesky ⁠⁠@liberopodcast.bsky.social⁠⁠ Follow us on Instagram ⁠⁠@liberopod⁠⁠ Follow us on TikTok ⁠⁠@liberopod⁠⁠ Follow us on Facebook ⁠⁠@liberopod⁠⁠ Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chelsea held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw on Sunday even though they were reduced to 10 men in the first half. They looked like a proper Chelsea team, playing in a proper Chelsea atmosphere. And even though they missed the chance to go second, and close the gap to three points, it felt like a day that strengthened their reputation, and that of their coach Enzo Maresca. So on today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and Jonathan Wilson discuss Chelsea’s strong progress. And they ask whether we might all need to re-assess our views of Maresca, the coaching job he has done there, and maybe even the recruitment strategy of Todd Boehly and Clearlake too. Because some of their much-criticised signings now look like far-sighted investments. P1: (12:14) P2: (27:43) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Football is ultimately a TV show, however much we might want to see it differently. The story of the rise of football over the last 40 or so years inseparable from the changes in technology, not least satellite TV in the UK and the relationship between the Premier League and what is now Sky Sports, dating back to 1992. You cannot understand the Premier League or modern football independent of that. But nothing lasts forever and this month saw news that could change the football TV landscape. Paramount+ has won the rights to show the Champions League in the UK and Germany, another step forward for the US-backed streamers who want to show the European game. Amazon Prime has already had Premier League and Champions League rights, and everyone is wondering whether Netflix will ever get involved. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and John Brewin look at the changing picture of football and TV, explain why technology is the most important story in the game, and ask whether the Premier League may eventually choose to own its own platform to compete. P1: (06:34) P2: (26:42) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Only three managers have ever won back-to-back Premier League titles and that figure does not look likely grow this season. Managerial greats such as Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte have all failed, so what is it about the Premier League that is so difficult to hang on to and is that going to change in an era where the top clubs have more advantages than ever before? James Horncastle asks the questions, while Jonathan Wilson and Miguel Delaney search for answers. P1: (05:17) P2: (26:13) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A team of interlopers from Kent are now arguably London's biggest club and with the pendulum of power swinging back Arsenal's way in recent years, a league title appears possible again. Did North London's original club, Tottenham, miss the opportunity to retake primacy? And what are the origins of one of the Premier League's great fixtures? Jonathan Wilson, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Miguel Delaney go deep on the North London Derby. P1: (4:35) P2: (25:33) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via [email protected] Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices