1. Football Weekly
The best and most popular entry on this list comes from The Guardian. While most of you will already be familiar with Football Weekly, no list of the best football podcasts would be complete without Jimbo and co.
James (Jimbo) Richardson, Barry Glendenning, Rafa Honigstein and the rest of the crew provide sensible, well-informed opinions with enough light-hearted discussion and jokes to keep the show entertaining throughout.
There are podcasts every Monday and Thursday and it’s an absolute must for any Premier League fan.
2. Men in Blazers
If you’re looking for something a little bit different then I’d advise you to try ‘Men In Blazers’. What makes this show great is the chemistry between its hosts, Roger Bennett and Michael Davies.
Both are English, although their love for everything American shines through during the podcast. While they usually focus on the Premier League, they will often discuss the MLS or the progress of the U.S. Men and Women’s National Teams.
Their insightful analysis, contagious sense of humour and blazers make a great podcast to add to your weekly list.
3. World Football Phone-In
BBC’s World Football phone-in is part of the daily night show ‘Up All Night’ on BBC Radio 5 Live and airs between 2am and 4am. Sometimes, however, the show has been known to dedicate the whole 1-5am slot to calls from football fans.
This show covers a wide variety, with football from Europe, Africa, North and South America and more covered by expert pundits from each area. There are also plenty of interviews and features.
4. Second Captain’s Football Podcast
Like Football Weekly, most Irish football fans will already be listening to Second Captains.
Ken Early, Eoin McDevitt, Ciarán Murphy, Mark Horgan and Simon Hick are well known to the Irish public from their eight years at Newstalk, their Second Captains Live for RTÉ 2 television and Second Captains Championship for RTÉ Radio 1.
They also produce two great podcasts for the Irish Times, The Irish Times Second Captains and The Irish Times Second Captains Football. They release 4 podcasts every week, 2 on Mondays and 2 on Thursdays. They football show is always an entertaining listen with great guests, intelligent debate and Ken Early taking centre stage, albeit sometimes going off on a tangent.
5. The Sports Bar
Remember Andy Goldstein from Soccer AM? Probably not. He was the man that replaced fan favourite Tim Lovejoy but lasted just one season with Helen Chamberlain before being given the boot himself.
That turned out to be good news because he happens to be much, much better as the host of The Sports Bar for TalkSport. It airs Monday to Friday from 10pm and 1am and it’s actually very, very entertaining. Three hours of laughs, chat and all the day’s football news.
6. We Are Going Up
This one is for all you struggling Leeds United, Reading and Ipswich fans among us. If your side has recently slipped down a few divisions, We Are Going Up is the podcast you should be listening to.
It is the only one on our list that exclusively focuses on the Championship, League One and League Two. Formed back in 2011, the show offers coverage of all 72 clubs, mixing serious interviews and debate with some good humour.
Best of the rest:
- Off the Ball (Newstalk)
- Football Ramble
- Total Soccer Show
- The Game
- Barclay’s Premier League Podcast
- Call Collymore
Have we missed any? Let us know what football podcasts you’ll be listening to this season.
Off the ball is a lot better then the ranking you have it at, just saying
Ken early is unbearable
He loves a good tangent/ridiculous analogy only to realise half way through that he’s lost his point and has to come back with his catchphrase of ‘the point I’m trying to make Eoin is…’
That not good broadcasting in any shape
Bull. Head on off there and listen to some Des Cahil so.
off the ball has recovered to be better than when the boys left to become Second Captains in all sports coverage
Yeah its still a great nightly show. Gilroy has held it all together since day 1. Whoever that Parkinson bloke is though is a gimp! Still havent replaced US Murph slot properly. They have the chance now that Donnie’s on the way out.
Parkinson is grand, he speaks his mind which is no harm and he is a bit of a laugh. Joe is excellent, simular likeability to McDevitt. The US slot is a bit underdeveloped, really slow intros from Donnie etc.
The problem Brendan is that mind is biased towards one sport alone, GAA. I’ll own up that I have no interest in GAA, but its when he tries to talk on other sports he shows that he has no interest in educating himself on how other sports operate. Not every sport in the world is run as well as the GAA organisation seems to be. For instance, he showed this during the Tour de France recently. He took on the current blanket media interpretation that everybody in the peloton is doping. This inaccuracy only exists because all those media outlets were duped in the past and now feel they have to be ultra critical!
Do some research, come out with your own interpretation. Dont just quote something else you read somewhere else.
Parkinson’s excellent
I think you are being a tad harsh on Parkinson, he knows plenty on other sports bar GAA. Sure doesn’t he love Everton. You can pick holes in any presenter if you want.
Extratime.ie do a great LOI weekly podcast.
The big interview with graham hunter?????
The Sunday Supplement.
How anyone can say Second Captains is better than the current line up if Off the Ball is beyond me. In fairness it’s still a decent show but for me it’s way too GAA focused- they should rename it off the sliotar or something. Listening to Yer man Wolly or whatever his name is drone on about his playing days with Laoise or whoever .., come on in fairness. And the banter is nowhere near the level of the Second Captains lads- they are just funnier and let’s face it, more insightful. Ken Early is a true original in Irish sports broadcasting. For me you need more than ‘this team beat that team report on sports’ type rubbish.Des Cahill as someone mentioned in one of the comments ( now there’s an annoying son of a bitch – the fat head on him is enough for me ) Eoin McDevitt is also an outstanding presenter. It’s no surprise they are now podcasting – way too good for irish radio. And a level above “Off the Ball”
Which one of them are you related to?
Are you related to Dennis!
Yeah Second Captain’s is probably the better show but at least we know got 2 very good Irish shows. OTB probably seems to be GAA focused because it is GAA season and the old OTB was just the same. Sure the football will be back soon and the show will be back to normal.
Tonight Brendan. Football show is back 9-10. Bout time. Wish they would focus more on Irish football though. Stuey Byrne is a legend.
Football show with Dan mc Donnell should be up at the top in my opinion
The Football Ramble is excellent always covers all the major leagues and has some good jokes too
Couldn’t get into that one at all, sounds like something from 1995 with the dodge theme tune and lad chat.
For any liverpool fans, the Anfield Index website is well worth a visit.
Woof!
no 606??
Off the ball football show with Daniel mc Donnell and joe Malloy should be up in the top three with the Sunday supplement and the football weekly …. We’re going up is pretty uninteresting stuff unless your a lower league hipster….
The one on balls.ie is very good with Moylea and Sweets