E135: Jan Age Fjortoft

01/22/21 • 53 min

Of the +125 pods we’ve done over the past 2 years or so, today’s conversation must rank as one of our all time favourites.It’s with Norway’s greatest export Jan Age Fjortoft, the former international, Bundesliga and Premier League footballer turned media star and strategic sports consultant.In 1992, Fjortoft was one of just 39 foreign players in the Premier League during a career that saw him score 249 goals in 548 professional games including 71 caps for Norway, for whom he played at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in America.This was before he embarked on a range of second careers working as a popular TV host, interviewer and analyst for German and Norwegian television, ESPN and SKY Germany. He has also managed the Norway national team, worked as an adviser to the Norwegian government and anti drug agency WADA and built his own strategic consultancy.So, we talk about loads of things, including the peculiar and often bizarre reality of playing in the Premier League, the Middlesborogh Galacticos, what it was like on the town with Fabrizio Ravanelli and we talk about the much derided genre of the post-match interview with players and managers.A big thank you to Adrian Bevington for putting us together. The pair have been mates since they met at Middlesbrough in the mid ‘90s.As ever, if you like the podcasts, you’d really like the weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter, which covers many other sports business themes in more depth. You can sign up to that via UnofficialPartner.com where you can also delve in to the back catalogue of conversations with people from every corner of sport.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
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We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Previous Episode

E134: What Just Happened? The FA’s Strategic Plan

This is Unofficial Partner’s news analysis series, where we look in depth at one recent story impacting the sports business.Today we look at the role of The FA following the publication of its Strategic Plan covering the next four years to 2024.If you work in sport, it’s worth ten minutes of your time to read.The FA is the governing body for football in England, with a remit that goes from the England teams, World Cups and Euros, St George’s Park and Wembley Stadium to the grass roots, coaching, youth football and safeguarding.We invited two people to come on and dissect the strategy document. First of all, Alex Horne who held a number of leadership roles within The FA including CEO, COO and General Secretary. And then following Alex, we have Matt Rogan, one of the co-founders of Two Circles, the agency that works with many governing bodies both in the UK and around the world.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Next Episode

E136: Nick Bitel

Today we’re talking to Nick Bitel, one of the most influential people in British sport as chair of Sport England, board member of UK Sport and chief executive of the London Marathon.The timing of this podcast coincides with the launch of Sport England’s new ten year strategy, called Uniting The Movement.The conversation covers a bit of ground, from the image and reality of sports governing bodies, their relationship with innovation and change, and the lessons learnt from the Covid pandemic which has hit grassroots sport and activity so hard.So given all that, it’s appropriate that this podcast is sponsored by our mates at Joymo.Joymo is a livestreaming platform made for grassroots sports, allowing clubs to engage with fans from around the world and generate income with pay-per-view ticket sales. You can start livestreaming in an easy and cost effective way using the Joymo App. All the equipment your club needs is a smartphone or tablet and a tripod and you are ready to go. Sign up today by visiting Joymo.tv!As ever, if you like the podcasts, you’d really like the weekly Unofficial Partner newsletter, which covers the sports business themes we talk about in more depth. You can sign up to that via UnofficialPartner.com where you can also delve in to the back catalogue of conversations with people from every corner of sport.

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport.

Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here.

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app.

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

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