In our first episode this year, we review our first football novel, David Peace’s The Damned United 📖⚽   Having already reviewed both Clough and Taylor’s autobiographies, this was Alistair’s way of cramming in more Clough 😄   The book has been described as the best novel about football 🏆📚 — a fictionalised account of what happened during the 44-day reign of Clough (and don’t forget Taylor) at Leeds United ⏳⚽ It’s also been made into a film 🎬, which we discuss too.   🚨 Spoiler alert: the 44 days didn’t go well…   Happy New Year, folks 🎉 Have a smashing 2026! 🥂✨

To mark the festive season 🎄, we discuss some of the weightier religious and historical topics 📜✝️ such as the cause of Herod’s death ☠️ and the schism between the Catholic and Protestant churches ⛪️⚔️⛪️. Yes indeed, it’s a Christmas 5-a-side ⚽️🎅.   Join us as we find ever more tenuous and tangential ways 🧵🤔 to connect top footballers to the 25 December 🎁🎂 and find out if Al can get a nice early present for himself 🎁😬 with a long-overdue win in the ongoing Injury Time draft series 🏆.   And as it’s the season of goodwill to all men 🤝✨, please do give us a nice rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.   Merry Christmas, folks! 🎄🍷🎙️

Pour yourself a very very large glass of wine 🍷, sit back 🛋️, and enjoy Episode 52 of the Dynamo Football Bookclub.   This week, we are taking a lesson in humility from Big Sam Allardyce. 📘   The Premier League’s original innovator turned reactionary, Big Sam elbowed his way up and down England as a player before becoming one of the most noteworthy managers of the Premier League era. His Bolton team really were something back in the day ⚪️⚽ with flair, grit 💪, and no shortage of long punts up the field despite what Sam might say.   It was a management career that started with humble Limerick FC 🇮🇪 and hit some memorable high notes 🎶 before ending on the sour notes of England and Leeds 😬.   It was a heck of a journey for the Big Man Brute who is not, as it turns out, from the north of England 😂.   Join us for Sam’s rose-tinted view of it all. 🌹👓

We are skin deep in Episode 21 of the Dynamo Football Bookclub’s Injury Time looking at footballers’ tattoos. 🏉🖋️   From numerology with Sergio Ramos 🔢 to Richarlison’s tattoo tribute to team mate and all-around good guy Neymar 🇧🇷✨, there is quite a lot to talk about.   Will Johnny take up Al’s offer of a five-figure sum to get a tattoo of Al’s face? 🤔💰😬 And more importantly, can Al finally win one of these damn drafts? 🏆🤞   More important questions answered in Episode 21 of Injury Time. 🎙️ Please do likey and subscribe. 👍🔔

In Episode 51, we’re back with the Oranje 🇳🇱 as we dive into Basta, the autobiography of the one and only Marco van Basten.   The rather oddly nicknamed “Swan of Utrecht” 🦢 rattled in 242 goals and swept up everything in sight: three Eredivisie titles 🏆, four Scudetti 🇮🇹, two European Cups 🏆🏆, and not one, not two, but three Ballons d’Or 🥇🥇🥇   And he did all this before the age of 28. Amazing, football’s Alexander the Great ⚔️   Tune in to discover: Who slammed the door 🚪 in Van Basten’s face for treachery How deep his love ❤️ for Silvio Berlusconi runs What he really thought of Arrigo Sacchi’s revolution 🤯 And what is in the infamous Box 13 📦… If you enjoy the episode, please like, subscribe, and leave us a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — it genuinely helps the show grow.

It’s injury time on Injury Time ⏱️⚽️   In Episode 20, we pay homage to all those fine fellows whose careers were brought to a premature end due to injury 🤕💔   From the most famous (David Busst) 😬 to some of the more obscure and unlikely — including the goalkeeper who ended his career up a tree while rescuing a cat 🧤🐈🌳   There is also the harrowing tale of the end of a Sprite-drenched Alistair’s fledgling career 🥤😵‍💫 Oh, what could have been…   Please do tune in 🎧, like 👍, subscribe 🔔, and tell your friends all about The Dynamo Football Bookclub 📚⚽️    

🎉 EPISODE 50! 🎉 We’re celebrating our half-century in style — that’s right, it’s Denis Wise’s autobiography 😏📖⚽️   Wise is one of the three musketeers of English football books. Along with Glenn Hoddle and Steve McMahon, he somehow appears in everyone else’s autobiography — and almost no one ever has anything nice to say about him 😬😂   But rather than just blindly swallowing whatever’s served up by untrustworthy footballers, we decided to go straight to the source. 🎯   Denis’ 2012 autobiography is a suitably short book 🪶 — written while he was still playing, and includes: 📖 The greatest ever FA Cup story 🥜 Vinnie Jones’ penchant for grabbing balls 💥 And all the amazing things we’ve apparently lost to “woke”   It’s Episode 50 — a milestone and a madness all in one 🎙️ Please do tune in, like, and subscribe ❤️⚽️    

🎶 “It’s not time to make a change…” 🎶 It's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy our Father & Son 5-a-side Draft!   Welcome to Injury Time 19 — the Scott Gemini Nepo Baby Special 👨‍👦⚽️😂   This week, we’re drafting the sons of footballing legends to face off on the pitch. It's rich pickings indeed 🤌💎 Turns out a lot of footballers are, well… footballers’ kids. Who knew?! 😏   Tune in for: 👨‍👦 Football father-son trivia 📚 The lively chatter you've come to expect from DFB 👀 A couple of controversial or perhaps ill-advised picks  😈 And the eternal question — can Alistair make a dint in Johnny's lead in the series...   🎧 Tune in and please do like and subscribe

  ⚽️ “Episode 49: Reboot – The Michael Owen Story”   Is Michael Owen football’s oddest ball of all? 🧐   From the helicopter highs of that goal against Argentina 🚁⚽️ to the hamstring horrors that followed (quite a lot of them 😬), Owen’s career was a tale of glory, pain, and lots of grudges.   In this week’s episode, we dive into Reboot, Owen’s attempt to set the record straight — revisiting his electric early years, his complicated later life, and his, er… unique way of remembering it all.   For reasons we didn’t quite expect, this turned out to be unlike any other football book we’ve read.   🎧 Tune in, have a laugh, and don’t forget to like, follow, and subscribe — your support keeps the hamstrings warm. 💪

☁️ The clouds have lifted over Old Trafford since the weekend with United’s smash-and-grab win down at Anfield — but has the storm truly passed? ⚡️   United’s failures on the pitch in recent years have only been compounded by the uncanny ability of their former flops to reach new heights away from the stifling drag around the Theatre of Dreams 🏟️.   In this episode of Injury Time, we see if United fan Johnny can put together a 5-a-side team ⚽️ of current United players that can beat United-hater Alistair’s team of cast-offs and rejects 🚷. Is Šeško better than Rashford? How does Dorgu compare to Elanga? 🤔   Johnny is ahead in the series — but only just. Can Alistair bring them level, or can Johnny put some space between the two? 🔴⚫️   🎙️ Note: This episode was recorded before United’s aforementioned victory over Liverpool 🏆 and Forest’s appointment of, ahem, Sean Dyche. 😬 Yikes.    

⚽️ Episode 48: A Season with Verona — Tim Parks and the Tifosi 🇮🇹   After the drama of our last episode, we’re staying in Italy with another unfashionable football club. This time it’s Hellas Verona, a club known as much for its tifosi as for its football 🔵🟡   Back in 2000, British author and horny English teacher Tim Parks embarked on a wild year with the Verona faithful, traveling the length and breadth of Italy as the club battled its way through 34 games to see if they could say in Serie A 🚆🔥   The result, A Season with Verona, is part travelogue, part meditation on fandom, and part fever dream — a portrait of Italy seen through blue-and-yellow smoke 🇮🇹💨   Can Parks match the magic (and madness) of Joe McGinniss’s Miracle of Castel di Sangro? 📖⚡️ Join us for Episode 48 of The Dynamo Football Book Club to find out 🎙️📚

🎙️ Episode Drop: Injury Time 17 – The Pig’s Head Derby: The Real Snake Draft It’s 23 November 2002. Luis Figo trots over to take a corner for Real Madrid against Barcelona. Moments later, a severed pig’s head sails onto the pitch — lobbed by a fan of the club that claims to be “more than a football team.”   Once adored, now despised, Figo had become public enemy number one for the Blaugrana, and the Camp Nou was baying for blood (and ham).   Inspired by this gloriously grotesque episode in football history, Johnny and Alistair host a snake draft of snakes — picking players who crossed the great divides to join their fiercest rivals.   Expect grudges, betrayal, and zero no-celebration celebrations from whoever wins this one. 🐖⚽🔥

🚨 Episode Drop! 🚨   Almost two years in, and on our 46th book, we think we’ve found the best one yet. Hold on to your hats, because Joe McGinniss’s The Miracle of Castel di Sangro is coming your way.   Alistair had never even heard of it (he blames the title). But have you? 🤔   Back in 1996, tiny Castel di Sangro — a town of just 5,000 souls tucked away in Abruzzo — pulled off the impossible. Against all odds, their Serie C1 side won promotion to Serie B, making them the smallest club ever to reach that level. That was the miracle. Or at least, the first one.   What followed — on the pitch, in the dressing room, and in Joe McGinniss’s unforgettable book — is a story packed with glory, heartbreak, and a gut punch ending you won’t see coming.   This episode has it all. 🎧 Give it a listen — and if you haven’t already, grab the book. 📚

⚽ Injury Time 16 is here! 📺🎙️   In this episode, we choose our greatest television lineups. There may be some personal and national biases at play as we pick the best presenters 🎤, pundits 💬, and commentators 🎧. Thankfully, 🤖 AI is on hand to settle the debate and decide whose lineup comes out on top.   Heated arguments 🔥, nostalgia 🕰️, and a few questionable selections 🤔 ahoy.   🎧 Listen now and let us know which lineup you think deserves the crown 👑!    

🎧 Episode 46 is out now — and it’s the most Alistair-esque episode yet.   That’s right, we’re doing our best to distract poor Al from events at the City Ground by diving into Psycho — the autobiography of his all-time hero, Stuart Pearce. ❤️🌳   The all-tackling, all-scoring, punk-loving left-back spent 12 loyal years at Nottingham Forest, sticking around even after relegation. Fierce, frugal, and forever Forest — Pearce is the kind of player they just don’t make anymore.   In this episode, expect: Some serious Forest fanboying 🌲 Tales of punk rock and penalty misses 🎸😬 A begrudging appreciation of Psycho’s sensible money habits 💷   💬 Drop us a comment and you’ll be in with a chance to win a copy of Jim McGuinness’ The Miracle of Castel di Sangro!   Give it a listen. Psycho would. 💥👊

🎧 Injury Time 15: The Mayor of Barnet Fair – Football’s Worst Haircuts 💈⚽ It’s a question as old as the combover: who had football’s worst-ever haircut? From tragic trims to peroxide crimes, we’ve gathered the very worst in a draft showdown that pits one smorgasbord of shockers against another. There are two routes to hair hell: Trying too hard 💇‍♂️ Not trying at all 🪮 In this episode, we explore both — and find out which is the fastest path to follicular failure. 🎙️ Tune in for: ✂️ Alistair’s own haircutting tips for the budget-conscious 🎤 Some unexpected hair/rap etymology 🍑 And a troubling impression of Ballon d’Or winner Bobby Charlton’s lovemaking… And of course, we find out whether Alistair can level the series and prevent Johnny from stretching his lead to two. The winner gets to graze his sheep on the common lands around ye olde Barnet Fair…

🎧 Episode 45 is OUT NOW! ⚽🐭   He’s King Kev in England, Mäuserich (Mighty Mouse) in Germany — and everywhere he goes, he’s a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, European Cup champ, and all-round lovely fella. We are talking of course about Kevin Keegan. Sure, he’s a bit hapless at times but in the words of Bill Shankly, Keegan is “everything a man should be.” In this episode, we dive into Kevin Keegan’s 2019 autobiography My Life in Football, ghostwritten by known Forest supporter Daniel Taylor. From humble beginnings to European superstardom, it’s the story of, in his own words or those of Daniel Taylor, a “mongrel who made it to Crufts”. But Kev, you are so much more than that - a whirlwind player, a plucky manager, a hair innovavtor, and a reasonably singer… 🕵️‍♂️ Tune in to discover: How many times he was savagely beaten 😬 What his grandad did to inspire a whole poem ✍️ What he really thinks of Andy Cole 😅 And… who in the world doesn’t know who Per Mertesacker is!? 🤯

Matthew Jarvis 20:16 – “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”    In this episode, we turn things on their head 🙃. We’re picking the worst players to notch up at least 100 Premier League appearances – that’s right, the aim of this draft is to lose. 🫣   Sure, if you’ve played 100 times in the EPL, you’re probably half-decent… but some of these lads were still pretty damn rubbish. 🗑️⚽   🎧 Tune in to find out who out of Alistair and Johnny assembled the em… rubbish-est.

📚 Episode 44 is here! This week, we’re diving into The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuściński 🇵🇱 — the legendary Polish reporter, a writer who happened to be a journalist (in his own words) and a man who played fast and loose with the truth, it seems.   ⚔️ The book centres on the 1969 war between Central American neighbours El Salvador 🇸🇻 and Honduras 🇭🇳 — a conflict that lasted just four days, but claimed thousands of lives, with most of the victims being civilians.   There may be a bit more war than soccer in this— and not just in Central America. From despots to desks, Kapuściński takes no prisoners. There’s also a surprise appearance by the lesser known author, Ted Stoves. 🎙️ Tune in to find out: Whether Al can pronounce Kap…Kapuś…Kapuściński 🫣 And whether Johnny can be trusted to buy a book on Kindle 📲📕

How do you follow a 5-time Ballon D’or winner? Well, with an 8-time Ballon D’or Winner of course. That’s right, its Part II of the Guillem Balague GOAT saga and our review of his biography of one Lionel Messi.   Originally published in 2013 but updated for the Argentina World Cup win in 2022, the book is a long one, covering the descent from heaven of the baby Messi to the unassuming city of Rosario, tucked away on the Rio Paraná, a few hundred miles inland from Buenos Aires.   With interviews from various people who touched the hem of his garment along the way, the book very extensively covers how Messi touched the lives of the earthlings who had the privilege of sharing the planet with him. The book also includes references to El Diablo, Cristiano Ronaldo, with a sterling supporting role from arch bean-counter, Jorge Messi. And of course, Messi’s grandmother.    As of some day last week, we were just two spots below Balague in the football podcast charts so please do have a listen and give us the chance of leapfrogging the Messi hagiographer. And if you like it, well please do like it…