Nessun Dorma Retro Football Podcast

The easiest draft in football history? Let's see. Reigning ND World Cup Draft Champion Dominic Hougham returns to compete with Mac, Michael Hamlen and author of the brilliant 'The Heroes of Mexico 86' Richard Mulligan to find the best unique XI based purely on performances at the tournament. With Martyn left to judge on defence, midfield, attack and overall balance it might just be more than who gets the number 1 draw and gets first pick... More importantly, let us know what you think of the four sides! The Heroes of Mexico 86 can be found here https://www.curtis-sport.com/all-programmes/The-Heroes-of-Mexico-86-p826871016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And then there were four. Mac and Martyn attempt to make sense of another French failure against their arch nemesis but give some justified praise for an excellent West German defensive performance. Belgium did everything right for the best part of an hour before the real Diego masterclass from Mexico got underway. If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

World Cup author Dominic Hougham joins Martyn to see France break a bit of a hoodoo, West Germany bore their way past Morocco, Bobby's boys march on despite another shaky start and Denmark absolutely losing their collective mind. Italy v France - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV1Ocz4GyzY Morocco v West Germany - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNA2e_cdt4I England v Paraguay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J672j5Ko_xg Denmark v Spain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9FHL5bFXYo If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gary and John return to wrap up the group stages of the 1986 World Cup. Ian St John has a meltdown watching Scotland somehow managing to miss out against the "scum of world football". West Germany are the latest to be put to the sword by Denmark but end up on the better side of the draw as a result and there is quite the debut for a young Brazilian right back by the name of Josimar. Brazil v Northern Ireland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY7bZlV0-s4 Algeria v Spain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFLa77Xo_zk Scotland v Uruguay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJPjmKy7c8&t=104s Ian St John during the match - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUgd2Stcpuo Ian St John post match - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36pjGbJwSk Denmark v West Germany - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh9AxJCLIFc If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike takes to the lectern as he guides us through the crushing beauty of Denmark's destruction of Uruguay. There's also Gordon Strachan's struggles with advertising boards, iconic branding of World Cups, Belgium get back on track while France and the USSR warm down into the knockouts. Iraq v Belgium - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liOXMZwJkF8 West Germany v Scotland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3WW3pjpXs Denmark v Uruguay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdI0DbGGbJw&t=4s Hungary v France - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt0pBAeQuC0 USSR v Canada - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faxr6OSiGC4 If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the 30th anniversary of Euro '96, the author Richard Chamberlain provides us with a telling reminder that there was more to this tournament that a homecoming from the sporting wilderness and an internal feel-good summer. The inside story on all the participants can be found in his new book which is out later this year. He talks to us about the project as a whole, the resonance in a post-Southgate era and how you can get involved. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thetrawler/euro-96-the-full-story?ref=discovery&total_hits=346&category_id=48 If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike and Martyn get set to devour a feast of World Cup action over these two days. We have Maradona and Passarella clashing over drugs and affairs before South Korea took turns in having a kick without any serious sanction, Hungary being smashed by the USSR, an early victory for the hosts amidst political turbulence and an arachnid taking over the Azteca, Northern Ireland and Algeria failing to live up to their previous exploits and missing the opportunity to get that much needed win and Bobby Robson arrives in Monterrey and selects a starting XI against Portugal who have never played together before. What could possibly go wrong? Argentina v South Korea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBjRKVZb4z4 USSR v Hungary - https://youtu.be/KMtBKLEkLq0?si=PTcNz_A_lAL8SwrT Poland v Morocco - https://youtu.be/q27qUuCfMng?si=n8XXVU6kY6Esm9vP Mexico v Belgium - https://youtu.be/lwWBEG3qxtU?si=W60__dS443ngNDtx Northern Ireland v Algeria - https://youtu.be/m6Le-ZVjNho?si=HJ8dypMGjGhQzScX England v Portugal - https://youtu.be/Q96knGZ3Of4?si=tz7OMcJ1hz4l_P8q If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are nearly there! Martyn is joined again by the author Aidan Williams to round up the rest of the qualifiers - from Argentina to Iraq - and to take a look at the contemporaneous previews on the eve of the tournament. There were big concerns about the impact of the midday sun on the quality of football, most agreed that there was no outstanding favourite and Diego Maradona had far from convinced everyone that he was about to take the world by storm. If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The last of the archive re-runs is a good old deep dive into the opening fixtures of the 1996-97 season first released in September 2018. Lee, Mike and Gary consider Beckham's introduction to the wider world, Richie Humphreys' thunderbolt and decline, Super Kevin Campbell and the general pizzazz and razzamattaz that was the Premier League in the post Euro 96 miasma of self assurance. Nessun Dorma returns next week as we commence the road to Mexico '86! If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Martyn and Gary are mostly full of glad tidings as they try and tackle the brilliant Patreon questions. Winter signings, best festive fixtures, the mythology of the Christmas Day truce are mixed with the greatest games of all time, biggest missed opportunities, Scottish football's best time and, a little less jolly, what players we hate. Have an excellent 2026 everyone! If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One theme that has been consistent throughout this season was the television blackout that dominated the first half of it. Martyn sits down with the author and academic Roger Domeneghetti to get into the detail of why it happened, how it ended and football's fascinating relationship with the medium before and after. Roger's excellent work Everybody Wants To Rule The World: Britain, Sport and the 1980s can be found here and is heartily recommended. https://amzn.eu/d/bJkufCR If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For all the surprises in English football in the mid-eighties, the real power still remained on Merseyside. 1985/86 saw both Liverpool and Everton locked in a battle for an historic Double right up until the final games of the season. With Everton the newly crowned champions and now with the best English striker of his generation and Liverpool still reeling from Heysel and the introduction of a club legend into an old-fashioned role, it was a season of momentum swings and sporting drama. In the background was a city under political siege and the final showpiece may have just saved football in the country for good. Gary Naylor is in the blue corner, Tony Evans in the red and Martyn tries to get a word in now and again as a famous season story is revisited. If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mid 1980s saw plenty of surprise packages making their way to collect silverware in English football but perhaps none had such a meteoric rise as Oxford United. Author Scott Walkinshaw is here to explain how it happened, relive the Milk Cup win in 1986 and discuss the influence and legacy of their notorious owner, Robert Maxwell. Scott's book on the subject can be found here https://amzn.eu/d/edxvCdK If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices