Advertise on podcast: What The Footie Podcast

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Matt Bonass, Partner at Bird & Bird, one of the leading legal advisers in sport, investment and complex ownership deals (who recently worked on the Snoop Dogg x Luka Modric x Swansea City deal) Bird & Bird have just partnered with our Athlete Investor Summit, and ahead of the third edition and ahead of Matt's panel at the event, Paul and Matt discuss the growing rise of athlete and celebrity investment into sport, why football is increasingly being seen as an asset class, what’s driving the boom in club ownership interest, and how these deals are actually structured behind the scenes. They also get into the wider trend of athletes and public figures moving from endorsement into equity, what clubs are really looking for from high-profile investors, and what the future of investment in football could look like. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Keith Lasley, Chief Operating Officer at St Mirren FC. In this exclusive, Paul & Keith dive into St Mirren’s journey in Scottish football, what it takes to run a modern club day-to-day, and how you build a sustainable model that still competes on the pitch. They explore leadership behind the scenes, balancing football tradition with operational innovation, and making long-term decisions in a results-driven environment — from club strategy and budgeting to recruitment alignment, culture, and community. They also discuss the wider challenges facing the game right now — financial sustainability, governance and ownership structures, commercial growth, and how clubs can future-proof themselves while staying connected to their supporters. What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5-star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Luke Bornn, Co-Owner of Toulouse FC and Co-Founder of Zelus Analytics. In this exclusive, Paul & Luke dive into Toulouse’s journey in Ligue 1, building a sustainable club model, balancing football tradition with innovation, and leading with a long-term vision. As well as Toulouse’s rise through smart recruitment and data-informed strategy, how Ligue 1 is evolving as a talent factory, lessons from running a modern European club, and the big-picture challenges facing football — from ownership models and financial sustainability to the future of analytics in the game. What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5-star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Adam Osper, Managing Partner in Financial Planning at Evelyn Partners who are the UK’s leading adviser to sports professionals on their financial affairs and investments. Evelyn Partners have just partnered with our Athlete Investor Summit, and ahead of the second edition in this episode Paul and Adam discuss what athletes should be thinking about early in their careers when it comes to building wealth, balancing short-term earnings with long-term investment strategy, why athlete need trusted advisors, how to empower athletes to take control of their wealth and investments and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Matt Rogan Co-Founder and former Executive Chairman at Two Circles. Two Circles is an international sports and entertainment marketing business that leverages data and knowing fans best, to help organisations grow audiences and revenues. In this exclusive, Paul & Matt discuss leadership lessons, the commercial opportunities for football clubs, how Two Circles helped clubs to capitalise on these opportunities, how F1/NBA/NFL commercialise their sports, revenue models in football, why building new stadia has become so important, Matt being a Chelsea pitch owner, the 3PM Blackout, the Premier League going direct-to-consumer, the big topical football business questions on the horizon and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Ben Sadler Chief Executive Officer at Walsall FC. Ben was previously CEO at Morecambe FC and General Manager at Harrogate Town AFC. In this exclusive, Paul & Ben discuss Ben's learnings from previous roles, the process of building a financially sustainable football club, the importance of alignment, leadership lessons, understanding context, the independent regulator, driving commercial and sporting success, creating and designing strategies, the day-to-day role, working with owners and within a multi-club model and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Polly Bancroft Chief Executive Officer at Grimsby Town FC. Polly was previously Head of Women's Football at both Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester United In this exclusive, Paul & Polly discuss her learnings from working at Brighton and Manchester Utd, the importance of alignment and role clarity, building MDTs, leadership lessons, understanding context, developing a clear game model, driving commercial revenue, creating and designing strategies, the day-to-day role, working with owners and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Mariela Nisotaki, Head of Emerging Talent at Norwich City FC. In this exclusive, Paul & Mariela discuss the evolution of scouting, the importance of emerging talent within squad planning, finding value in different markets, setting a clear game model at a football club, how the game model influences scouting and recruitment, building a Premier League-ready squad, the challenges and learning of the role, using live scouting/data/video scouting to profile players, having a robust process to sign-off on players, working within a multi-disciplinary team and with a sporting director and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Nancy Hensley, Founding Member at Mercury 13 (a multi-club ownership group focused on acquiring controlling stakes in professional women's football) and former Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Stats Perform. In this exclusive, Paul & Nancy discuss Mercury 13's ambition and strategies, the benefits and challenges of multi-club ownership models, the growth and future of women's football, how data can transform women's football and the lack of data in it, and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review. Today's episode is sponsored by Prorizon.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Claire Stewart Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Prorizon Tech.  In this exclusive, Paul and Claire discuss why Prorizon is important for the future of football, the state of football (increased fixtures and tournament expansion), the effects that it has on players, the challenges of running a startup and selling tech solutions to the biggest teams in the world, player welfare, the challenges that football players face, the data revolution in football and so much more. - - - - - - - What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Felix Torralba Chief Revenue Officer at RCD Mallorca.  In this exclusive, Paul & Felix discuss life in La Liga, the role of a Chief Revenue Officer, doing global partnership deals, building a financially sustainable football club, creating and designing strategies, the day-to-day role, redeveloping the stadium, capitalising on Mallorca's rich tourism history to grow the fanbase, American investors in football, their partnership and links with the NBA's Phoenix Suns, La Liga's CVC deal and why the clubs in La Liga needed it, the distribution of wealth in Spain in comparison to other leagues like the Premier League, FFP and financial sustainability rules, taking the RCD Mallorca to America and Asia, the importance of storytelling for a football club and so much more. - - - - - - - What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Tim Williams CEO at Oxford United Football Club. Former Group Financial Controller at Manchester United, Chief Financial Officer at Inter Milan and Managing Director at Tifosy. In this exclusive, Paul & Tim discuss the challenges of navigating up the pyramid, the Premier League's role in the pyramid, building a financially sustainable football club, creating and designing strategies, the day-to-day role, developing a new stadium, being a Top 30 club in England, setting a culture in a football club, developing loan players, the 3pm blackout/broadcasting, the distribution of wealth in England, new ownership models, FFP and financial sustainability rules, valuing a football club and so much more. - - - - - - - What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Carol Shanahan, Owner & Chair at Port Vale Football Club. In this exclusive, Paul & Carol discuss the challenges of navigating up the pyramid, building a sustainable football club, creating and designing strategies, the day-to-day role, the loan system, being League 1 steady and Championship ready, hiring a Sporting Director, creating first-team pathways for academy players, the new EFL TV deal/TV revenues, the distribution of wealth in England, competing against different ownership models, being a people-orientated leader, culture and so much more. - - - - - - - What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Tatjana Haenni, the NWSL's Chief Sporting Director. In this exclusive, Paul & Tatjana discuss the NWSL's ambition to be the world's number one women's football league, creating and designing strategies, what it takes to be a new NWSL franchise, the social movement in the USA which has contributed to athlete investors investing in teams (Serena Williams & Patrick Mahomes), creating player pathways, the growth of the league, the challenges, Tatjana's 30-year experience of driving the growth of women's football forward, what's needed next and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review. Today's episode is sponsored by Prorizon.

This week’s What The Footie Podcast is with Debbie Cook, CEO @ Grimsby Town FC. In this exclusive, Paul & Debbie discuss the challenges of navigating up the pyramid, building a sustainable football club, creating and designing strategies, the day-to-day role of a CEO, making data-driven decisions and taking emotion out of decision-making, new partnership with the Twenty First Group, Gareth Jennings' new role as Strategic Advisor to the Board, the relationship between of the Head of Recruitment/Board/Head Coach, the new EFL TV deal, beating Luton Town and Southampton in the FA Cup and so much more. - - - - - - -  What The Footie is the football and business podcast that goes behind the scenes. Please remember to support the pod with a follow & a 5 star review. Today's episode is sponsored by Prorizon.