In 1984, John Fashanu, a black Englishman of Nigerian descent, signed with the British club: Millwall FC; an openly racist club at that time. The semi-official chant the supporters sing from the crowd is: ‘We are Millwall, No One Likes Us, No One Likes Us, We Don’t Care, We are Millwall, From the Den’. (The Den is the name of their home ground)

The supporters hated him, they abused him, they threw bananas at him, they threatened his life if he dare stay. Somehow, as time progressed - they came to adore him. Impossibly, he became the most beloved player at the club. His passion, his skill and of course his goals just won them over, kind of like the Soviet crowd conversion in Rocky IV.

In fact, they revered him so much that when he left the club, the ‘ultra’ supporters – a notorious group known as the F Troupe – were so distraught, that they took out a hit on his life, and he had to go into hiding.

And this is just chapter 4 for John – It was such a good time to chat with him - Give us a listen to hear it all.

soccerPod - Ep: 20

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He was known as ‘the mayor of Rome’ – and he was such a great player that later in his career the great Pele would go on to say that he was the best player in the 1982 World Cup.

But Bruno Conti had a very humble start – his home village of Nettuno was actually known as the baseball capital of Italy.

It was the site of a major US Naval Base during World War 2 – and the Italian boys would watch in fascination as the American GI’s would play baseball on the beach. Eventually they started to teach the locals and a small league formed.

Bruno was so good as a lefty pitcher that he was scouted by – and offered a trial with the NY Yankees – which would be the right team for an Italian – being the club of: Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra.

But he chose soccer and became a legend of both club and country. I met him at his AS Roma facility where he could not have been nicer. It was a real honor to sit with the man and hear his storied career.

I hope you find it as interesting as I did – SoccerPod #19 – the great Bruno Conti.

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If you love sports and you love sports stories, then it is hard to do much better than Wes Morgan, and the absurd story of the 2015 Leicester City Silver Foxes.

They were 5000-1 odds against winning the title. But it may as well have been 5 million. It was not going to happen, no way, an impossibility. To bet 10 bucks on it, was to throw 10 bucks away.

They played Manchester City away late in that year. The cost for the starting 11 that Man City put on the field that day was: 477M (USD), the cost for the Leicester City starting 11 was 32M (USD). In fact, Man City had 6 players that cost more than the entire Leicester squad. Leicester won 3-1, comfortably.

It was the classic David and Goliath story, but with a twist that we can never see in American sports. In America, our titles are won with an end of season tournament – NFL playoffs, March Madness, etc – short term events where strange things can happen – a pitcher gets hot, a quarterback is injured, a boxer has the night of his life.

But, what are we to make of an upset that lasts 9 months? 38 weeks of ‘upsets’ until they lift the trophy as champions? I don’t know but upset seems the wrong word. It is what makes that campaign so strange, so special and so very unlikely to ever happen again.

The great Peter Drury, who was commentating that final day, put it like this - as the captain, Wes Morgan, lifted the trophy to the screaming home fans and as the fireworks went off behind him - ‘It is quite simply the greatest tale told in the history of football’

Even Wes cannot help but smile as he recalled some of the moments from that insane year. And this was but one chapter in his remarkable career that I was humbled to hear him lay out in a small room in a small hotel on a rainy day (of course) in his hometown of Nottingham.

Wes Morgan – Episode 18

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Gabriel Agbonlahor is the all time leading scorer for Aston Villa Football Club – he is a true legend there and we dive into his time there - but when I think of Gabby I think of this -

It’s an interesting time for a player when it comes time to retire.

They are still young – usually in their early 30’s – they're famous, have a ton of money, a ton of time, they don’t really know how to do anything else, and used to the rush of 50,000 people screaming for you once per week. And well - it does not always go well for a young man with that set of circumstances.

And when I think of Gabby Agbonlahor – I think about this moment in his life. He remembers how it crept up on him – like, wait – 'I can just grab my lads and head to Las Vegas, or Monaco, and hang out and party?

And when Gabby retired he did this - for one year – way too much booze, living a fast and hard life – until he had a moment – a personal moment of reflection that wise people can have – that his life was veering out of control and he had to right the ship.

So, Gabby caught himself before he fell too far - and he entered the field of soccer journalism and punditry and found himself right at home. He now talks football on the biggest radio station in the world – and he’s quite good at it – full of humor and charisma – and often with a controversial take that lands him in the papers.

Gabby also counsels other football clubs on how to deal with life after the game – how to plan ahead – how to avoid trouble, care for your mental health and live a good post career life.

I learned a lot from Gabby and I hope you find him as interesting as I did.

Episode 17 – Gabriel Agbonlahor

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He was the best American soccer player when America could care less about soccer.

Today, the most talented 21 year old American player – we know that guy. He is probably quite famous, rich and playing at a massive club. This was not the case in 1989 for John Harkes.

But his ability could not be overlooked, and as such he was able to play at levels no American ever had before: the Prem, FA Cup, Wembley.

He would star in two World Cups, and with his teammates and friends, were so successful that the US National Team will never again be as irrelevant as it was when John was coming up.

He was a key member to the initial launch of the MLS – and while more lucrative opportunities lay elsewhere – as a US Player, who never really had ‘a league of their own’ he, along with his colleagues, wanted to leave one for those players that came after.

I loved my chat with John – smiled the entire time - Give us a listen and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

EP: 16 – the great John Harkes

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This is a really sad one for me – Andreas Brehme tragically passed away this week – at the age of 63 in his home town of Munich.

If you do not know of Andi, he is a true legend of German football - having scored one of the biggest goals in that nation’s history to win the World Cup in 1990 in Italy.

But I will always remember and have love for Andi as he was the first guest I ever reached out to that actually said ‘yes’ to my interview request. I was lucky with my timing in that he was working on his memoir at the time. I am sure he thought: ‘sure, I will sit with this silly American as I have been reliving memories for my book – why not do it for a podcast – whatever the hell that is’.

‘Come to Munich’ he said – ‘and I will get you interviews with a lot of my friends’. Not knowing if it would entirely work out, we did go – and he was good on his word and secured us 12 sits with German internationals all over the country.

As a player, Andi also spent time with Inter Milan and is a sort of legend in northern Italy – ‘Come to Milan’ he said – ‘and I will get you interviews with my Italian friends.’ We did go - and he connected us with 7 Italian internationals who only sat with us as it was a favor to Andi.

He said once that we would do another podcast one day – ‘I was your first one, you were my first one – but you come back and I will be your 100th episode, and we will see how far you have come’

I would have loved for that to have happened. But I guess this will have to do.

So I hope you enjoy my talk with this great and funny man. And if this is your introduction to his career and life – I truly hope I do it justice here.

Andi Brehme – SoccerPod #15 – Thank you Andi!

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Ray played 15 years for Arsenal. And he was there for the arrival of the great Arsene Wegner – and he would go on to bring some of the greatest players to ever grace the Premier League - Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera to name a few.

In the 97-98 campaign, Ray was playing exceptionally well – maybe the best year of his career – and it was only natural that the national team – coached by that Tottenham legend – Glenn Hoddle - would give him a look.

Coach Arsene himself lobbied the coach that there is no better winger in all of England.

Glenn Hoddle was a believe in: ‘faith healing’ – and the team had an appointed faith healer – a woman named Eileen Drewery.

As Ray was on trial with the Three Lions, he had pulled his calf. And coach Hoddle sent him to see Miss Eileen for 'treatment'. Eileen sat him in the chair, walked round to his back and began rubbing Ray’s scalp. Ray being Ray goes, 'Allright Love, take a little off the the sides and the back, but leave the length on the top’ (this is a slight paraphrase, but you get the gyst)

Unbeknownst to him, Ray had deeply offended Mr Hoddle with this, and would miss out on playing in the 98 World Cup as a result.

But his smile was big as he recalled this story – as was mine – and it was a real joy to hear him tell me so many others – I hope you enjoy them as well - here on the soccerPod #14.

Enjoy!

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There are currently some 13000 players in the youth system of English premier league clubs. Of these 13000 players – the best youth players in the country - less than 1% - way less - will ever see the field for a premier league side.

Now if you adjust those odds for a 23 year old American – who plays in the English 9th division – who has to work odd jobs to make ends meet – well the odds – they become much longer than 1%.

But that is what Jay Demerit did – he began his professional career in England playing at parks for no pay and within 2 years he was playing at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 people. He went from guarding guys who would have beers at halftime, to guarding Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford.

His story is truly remarkable and as far as American soccer careers go – there are few that are more screenplay worthy than Jay Demerits.

I hope you enjoy him as he lays it out for us on the soccerPod – Enjoy!

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