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With just a few days of 2025 left, we gather round the microphones to look back over the past year, a period that saw England win the Women’s Euros again, Crystal Palace upset the odds by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, and the Independent Football Regulator came into force. In this episode, Graham Miller is joined by Kelly Simmons, Dave Kitson and Fair Game CEO Niall Couper. Kelly is the former director of the women’s professional game at the FA and now a consultant and director at Women In Football. Dave was a key figure as Reading got to the Premier League in 2006 and he currently coaches Maidenhead United Women. Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

There isn’t much that makes us as passionate as the World Cup and now the draw has been made our pulses are definitely racing. Joining Graham Miller to talk about the draw on this episode are: Janie Frampton OBE, one of only eight FIFA female referee instructors, Tom Watt, football author and broadcaster, and we get an American perspective from Mike Smith, executive director of Burnley. We talk about World Cup ticket prices, Cristiano Ronaldo’s suspended ban and the reduced reliance on votes in FIFA’s decision-making processes, but we also look forward to the exciting matches that have been thrown up, the countries we’re looking forward to watching, and which teams we think might win it this time around. Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

At a time when football clubs are using data to make more and more decisions, there are some statistics that are clearly not being noticed or addressed.In men's professional football, 43% of players are black and yet only 4% of the former players employed in the game are black, revealing a lack of diversity among decision makers and people with significant influence.On this episode, we talk to:Monique Choudhuri, a former non-executive director at Brentford and currently Managing Director of Versify Consulting,Delroy Corinaldi, co-founder of the Black Footballers Partnership,and Brian Deane, former England international striker, the man who scored the first-ever Premier League goal in 1992, and former manager of Norwegian club Sarpsborg 08.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

Many Sheffield Wednesday supporters missed the kick-off as the team played their opening fixture in the Championship last weekend, because they were staging a protest against club owner Dejphon Chansiri, who says he is willing to sell but hasn't taken any significant steps towards a sale.The bills haven't been paid and the players haven't received their wages. Wednesday had a transfer embargo over the summer and there is a likely points deduction to come but home attendances are still around 25,000 and the club regularly sells out its allocation at away games.In November, the football regulator will have the power to appoint a trustee to expedite a sale in these circumstances but in the meantime Sheffield Wednesday and the supporters continue to suffer, watching their club deteriorate.Our guests on this episode are Clive Betts MP for Sheffield South East, Mark Johnson from the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust and Fair Game CEO Niall Couper.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

While Morecambe have recently been to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea in the FA Cup, and moved into a new stadium in 2010, there have been frustrations and protests at the club. The current owners are struggling to finalise a sale, a situation that has lasted two-and-a-half years so far.Profits generated by the club in some recent seasons have since been cancelled out by losses, highlighting how difficult it is for clubs in League One and League Two to remain sustainable.We discuss the club's present situation, fighting relegation from the Football League, the potential difficulties to challenge for promotion from the National League, and the future with: Lizzi Collinge, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, James Wakefield, one of the directors of Morecambe Football Club, Dave Salmon, commentator on Morecambe matches for 'Shrimps Live', and Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game. Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.And remember, you can register for the Fair Game Annual Conference 2025, which takes place 28-29 May at AFC Wimbledon. 

In this episode, we hear the emotional stories of Bolton Wanderers and Bury, clubs that have both suffered financial problems over the past ten years.Our guests are:Yasmin Qureshi MP for Bolton South,James Frith MP for Bury North,Author and journalist David Conn,Martin Parnell from the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Trust,Mo Dickson, a member of the heritage committee at Bury AFC,and Fair Game CEO Niall Couper.David Conn reminds us that the founders of the Football League were concerned that clubs in the big cities would have a financial advantage, so the competition was set up on the principle of shared gate receipts, and that principle was in place for nearly 100 years, up to 1983.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.And remember, you can register for the Fair Game Annual Conference 2025, which takes place 28-29 May at AFC Wimbledon. 

Just 12 years after playing in the Premier League, Reading are in League One, attendances are falling and the latest financial figures showed a loss of over £17m for the 2021/22 season. The club has had problems paying staff on time in recent seasons, and there have been points deductions, fines and transfer bans. So far, all attempts to buy the club from Dai Yongge have fallen through.Our guests joining Graham Miller on this episode are Yuan Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, Sarah Turner, chair of STAR, Supporters Trust at Reading, James Earnshaw, sports reporter for the Reading Chronicle and John Mayes, the chair of Fair Game.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

The Football Governance Bill is about to be debated in the House of Lords, with speeches to be made and amendments suggested.In this episode, Graham Miller is joined by David Bernstein, the former chairman of Manchester City, the Football Association, and the current chairman of Wembley Stadium Limited, and Fair Game CEO, Niall Couper.The Bill will have huge consequences for all clubs in the pyramid and even small changes this week could have a massive impact.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

Exactly one week before the 2024 General Election, Fair Game brings together a Question Time-style panel to discuss the future of football:- Clive Betts (Labour), former chair of the all-party Parliamentary Football Group, and member of the Football Supporters' Association.- Paul Athans (Conservative), Everton season ticket holder.- Dominic, Lord Addington (Liberal Democrats), previously sat on the National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee.- Dr Christina Philipou, one of the country's leading experts on footballing finance and a senior lecturer at Portsmouth University.The new Government will probably have a closer relationship to football than any before if the Football Governance Bill is enacted and the panel takes questions from some invited guests.You can watch a re-run of the full live video version of the debate on YouTube.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

Graham Miller speaks to the former Reading, Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth goalkeeper Shaka Hislop.Shaka enjoyed a great career, playing for Kevin Keegan's 'Entertainers', the team that finished second in the Premier League two years running. He also played in memorable play-off and FA Cup finals for Reading and West Ham, and at the World Cup finals for Trinidad & Tobago. He tells us about his experience and observations of racial abuse in public, and even in the dressing room.Shaka is the honorary president of Show Racism The Red Card and explains how the inherent diversity in football shows how teams are stronger when they working together. He also says Alan Shearer would be a terrible left-back!Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

As the Football Regulator Bill continues its journey through Parliament, we look at the progress so far, the changes that have been made to the original white paper and the contradictions that still need to be addressed.Graham Miller is joined by Fair Game CEO Niall Couper, Bart Huby, the head of Football Analytics at LCP and Nick McGeehan, a co-founder of FairSquare, which investigates sport, geopolitics and business.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

While we wait for the Football Governance Bill, we talk to David Bernstein, who was chairman of Manchester City between 1998 and 2003, and then chairman of the FA between 2011 and 2013.David has written a book about his time at Manchester City, 'We Were Really There' will be published on March 11, charting the beginning of the journey from the third tier in English football to where they are today, European and World champions.As you will hear in this episode, David has interesting views on nation-state-owned clubs and the way they may influence the Government.Follow Fair Game on X (yes, we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

The Times Chief Football Writer Henry Winter,  PoliticsHome reporter Tom Scotson and our very own Niall Couper join Graham Miller to discuss the latest on the appointment of football's independent regulator.The realities of the regulator's relationship with the game are starting to take shape and in this episode we cover a lot of ground, discussing the likely shape the regulator will take, who could be appointed, and how important it is to convince Premier League clubs of the value of the football pyramid.Follow Fair Game on X (although we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

With the King's Speech expected to announce the implementation of a football regulator, we take a closer look at the Fit And Proper Persons Test and ask how it should be modified to ensure clubs have better ownership.In this episode, Graham Miller talks to Chris Blackhurst, former editor of the Independent and author of The World's Biggest Cash Machine, a book that examines the Glazer family's impact as owners of Manchester United; Martin Calladine, author of The Ugly Game and Fit And Proper People; and Stella Cooper, part of our team of researchers at Fair Game UK.And as always, CEO Niall Couper also gives us the latest news from Fair Game.Follow Fair Game on X (although we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

How often do we get to hear football fans discussing the game with a top referee? In this episode, Graham Miller and Niall Couper talk to Keith Hackett, a man who is every bit as passionate about football as we are.Keith was one of the very best for 15 years and just like us, he wanted to smash his TV screen in frustration when he saw the disallowed Liverpool goal at Tottenham. He tells us the officials in that game did have the power to stop the game and correct the VAR mistake. Keith managed the group of Premier League referees when he retired and he drove the introduction of technology to help officials do their jobs better and now he thinks there should be a reality TV show to find the next elite referees. Follow Fair Game on X (although we still call it Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.