Football Journeys Podcast

In the early 1980s Allan Cockram made two appearances for Tottenham Hotspur in a midfield featuring Hoddle, Ardiles and Perryman but it's not his football achievements, notable as they are, that make Allan a special man, it is his work after his playing career.
Running the Brentford Penguins, the club's Down's Syndrome team, has brought him deserved acclaim, and a Grierson Award for the documentary Mighty Penguins, but he doesn't stop there a women's over 40s walking football team and a men's over 55s walking team, are just a couple of examples of how he brings joy and love and uses football as a vehicle for something so much more meaningful. This episode is so special, just listen and enjoy.
This series we are partnering with University Campus of Football Business and have recorded episodes at their Media City studios in Salford and at their studio next to Wembley Stadium

For more information on UCFB visit their website here - https://www.ucfb.ac.uk/

You can follow us on our social media @journeyspod on Instagram and Threads and we're still hanging around on X for a while! You might even find us on TikTok too!

The Sporting Director. "In 10 years time, every club in England will have a Sporting Director". That was Damien Comolli's view when he was at Tottenham Hotspur and he was not far off. A talented youngster at Monaco, he was though perhaps far off his contemporaries like Emmanuel Petit and Lilian Thuram, and he followed his passion for coaching, training, planning and everything that nowadays goes into the modern Sporting Director role.
He talks to us about his remarkable career with Arsène Wenger at Monaco and later Arsenal, then to St Etienne in his native France, as Sporting Director at Spurs, Liverpool and in Turkey with Fenerbahçe and now as President with Toulouse a big club in France seeking to get back to Ligue 1.
This episode has been produced in partnership with our sponsor, Kalon Financial. Kalon is a national financial planning firm with strong connections in sport, and particularly in football. The firm offers guidance and advice to sportsmen and women at all levels and they are passionate about providing support in relation to wealth management, protection insurance and mortgages helping them in both the short and long term.

For more information about Kalon visit:

https://www.kalonfinancial.com/
Please do support us on Patreon - patreon.com/footballjourneys. For just £2 a month you can help fund the production of these episodes. You will also get early access to episodes, ad free content and benefits and content that non-Patreons don't get.

The referee. As the civil war raged for years in Somalia a football mad girl, Jawahir, fled with her family to England and, more particularly, to Wembley. In the shadow of that famous stadium she dreamed of only one thing - football - but a Muslim girl in a headscarf isn't supposed to play football, is she? This is a girl who won't take "no" for an answer and has broken boundaries to become the first female Muslim referee in the UK and she has much more she wants to achieve from here ...

This is JJ's story.
This episode has been produced in partnership with our sponsor, Body Mind Performance. BMP, run by Emily Tillman, is a coaching company focused on helping young athletes with the mental and physical challenges of playing competitive football.

For more information about BMP visit:

https://www.bodymindperformance.org/ or find them on Instagram: bodymindperformance_

Please do support us on Patreon - patreon.com/footballjourneys. For just £2 a month you can help fund the production of these episodes. You will also get early access to episodes, ad free content and benefits and content that non-Patreons don't get.

Our fourth bonus episode, recorded via Zoom during the lockdown, is with Dean Hammond.

Dean had a successful career, starting at his local club Brighton and Hove Albion, achieving promotions with Southampton and Leicester City and ultimately achieving his lifelong dream of playing in the Premier League. From a review of his Wikipedia page a fan could be forgiven for believing that his footballing career was smooth and always positive but Dean talks brilliantly and honestly about the poor decisions that he and others make, the pressures and mental health anguish that can so often follow a career in top level sport and the cultures in football which make good decision-making difficult.

Dean speaks so well and insightfully. This pod is a must listen for those working in football, for young Academy (and first team) players and for those who have an interest in those unseen moments in the industry.
This pod is sponsored by ASM Advisory who we are proud to partner up with and so grateful for their support.

Series One sees us meet Liverpool FC's Academy class of 2013/14.
Episode Six is with Connor Randall, a local boy who managed 8 first team games for Liverpool FC. He talks brilliantly about the intense pressure that comes with fulfilling the boyhood dream of playing for the Reds, about how it impacted him mentally and how outside influences from social media and fan criticism played a part. A season on loan at Hearts allowed him to showcase his undoubted ability but he was somewhat lost when he was finally released by Liverpool at the age of 23. A "mad move" to Bulgaria followed and he is now back in the Scottish Premiership with Ross County. Connor comes across as wise beyond his years and this episode is a must listen for young footballers and their parents.