Real Football. Matters

Warren Barlow is well know to anyone who knows grassroots football in Bolton & the surrounding areas.

his passion for grassroots football and getting increased participation in a number of areas is infectious and has been a huge driving force in Bolton and with the Bolton & Bury Football League for 20 years+

this podcast Pete chats to current Lancaster City FC manager Mark Fell.

its an interesting journey that Mark has taken, including a little controversy which we hear about in his own words, when he was at Ramsbottom Utd.

Mark is a huge advocate of technology and getting any edges he can over opponents.....including listening to opposing managers on this podcast!

Mark explains how a recent health scare has changed him from (in his own words) a robot to perhaps more human.

the curtailment of the Covid-19 interrupted current season ended what was shaping up to be a great season for Lancaster and we chat about how Mark hopes to carry that into the next season....whenever that's going to be!

enjoy the podcast!!

the guest on this podcast is current Chester FC 1st team coach Neil Hart

Neil is well known to host Pete Gray, as he is also a former manager of Pete's club Turton FC

The pair share some great Turton memories and learn about Harty's early managerial roles and how hes taken his 'student of the game' approach to Chester FC 

enjoy the podcast!

our guest on this podcast is Alan Morgan.

Alan enjoyed a professional career playing football for Tranmere Rovers and a few others.

we got him on the podcast though to talk about his time coaching and managing in the Welsh leagues.

his crowning glory (so far!!) was taking Llandudno into the Welsh Premier division and then into the Europa league! what an achievement and what a story.

unbelievable dedication and passion for football. Moreover what a great guy!

enjoy the podcast!

we catch up with Wayne Salkeld, chairman of Curzon Ashton.

Wayne is a passionate chairman of successful 'little old Curzon' as Wayne describes the club.

we hear about the drive and progress of a club only founded in 1963.

being at the heart of the community is what Wayne & Curzon are all about and its an interesting story!!

enjoy the podcast

on this episode we chat with current 1st team manager of Prestwich Heys, Matt Barnes.

Matt is still a fairly young manager and has been progressing & learning along the way.

the different types of dressing rooms and how he has had to adapt each time is a really interesting discussion throughout this podcast.

We enjoyed chatting with Matt and will be watching the Prestwich Heys journey with interest.

as is becoming a bit of a feature on these lockdown podcast recordings, we lost connection a couple of times...apologies!

enjoy the podcast

In this episode we hear from Steve Watson who founded a girls only football club called Academy Juniors.  Jemma Entwistle was a founding player who progressed through the club to coach and finally Chair. Jemma is now fulltime in the girls game with Manchester Utd and still heavily involved in AJ's.  A real role model to girls wanting to be involved and play football.

We discuss the progression of the club and girls/womens football generally.

enjoy!

this is part 2 of the chat we had with Steve Cunningham.

basically because Cunny talked for England! 

audio kicks in with no preamble as we just had to pick a spot to stop!

anyway more great chat and insight.  Cunny also talks about why he left Colne & what next

enjoy!

A Scoop for the podcast!

Steve Cunningham joins us to talk about his journey at Colne FC where he has brought the club on and established themselves as a top club!

we hear about his journey, how he's done that.

just before we were due to record the podcast Steve shocked everyone by announcing he was leaving Colne FC

so we were the first people he spoke to following that!

there was lots discussed so its a 2 parter!

enjoy part 1

A great guest that many listeners will have heard of in former referee Keith Hackett.

Keith is President of Penistone Church FC near Sheffield.  We start talking about "Penny Church" which are a great club with real ambition.  Keith also refereed his first non league game on the ground!

It would have been rude not to talk to Keith about some of his refereeing experiences and out came some real crackers! 

a great guest who has had a real influence on the game in terms of referees!

enjoy!

this episode catches up with Lostock St Gerards FC manager Stuart Birch.

LSGFC play in division 1 of the West Lancs league.

having had enjoyed an unbeaten league season, all but securing the league title and promotion & reached the final of the 2019-20 Lancashire Amateur Shield - no mean feat for a div 1 side - they, like all at this level found out of the FAs decision to call a season "null & void"

we hear Stuarts reaction to that news, and as is becoming standard, all about his journey into football at this level.

still in Covid-19 lockdown the podcast was recorded remotely.

we chat with current Vauxhall Motors 1st team manager Mike McGraa. we learn about his journey into football management.

Vauxhall Motors, having won promotion from the North West Counties South divison already, became 1 of only 2 clubs in the whole country that has learnt that they wont be promoted after the FA's decision to "Null & Void" the 2019-20 season due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mike & Vauxhall are clearly and understandably gutted.  we chat about how they felt, how they now feel and what next!?

The podcast catches up with Alan Oliver, a ground hopper.  Alan has done over 575 grounds now including the 92 league grounds.  he has an obsession with visiting as many grounds as possible. We get an insight into the phenomenon that is ground hopping and the lengths the ground hoppers go to. Real Football definitely matters to these guys!