About this episode

The episode discusses the return of Ken, emotional build-up for Katie, transfer madness, and features an interview with Christoph Biermann about his new book on football analytics.

It’s been a hell of a week on the World Service - Ken is  back - Katie build-up has been emotional - And on top of all that, we’ve made friends within Hector Bellerin! Plus there was transfer window madness, and today one of Germany’s most respected football writers, Christoph Biermann, joined us to talk about his new book: Game Theory: How Luck and Analytics shape football. Next week we have the Champions League, we will review Troy V Jose and Katie's fight, plus there's Trump's trip to Doonbeg and a few big GAA and rugby stories coming to the boil. Monday’s shows are free to all. To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week,  join the Second Captains World Service . There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’   ‘Where Is George Gibney?’  and  Stakeknife. Hosted on Acast. See…

People in this episode

Host: Ken

Guest: Christoph Biermann

Topics covered

• football
• transfers
• Champions League
• GAA
• rugby
• analytics
• emotional build-up

Keywords

• football
• transfers
• Champions League
• analytics
• GAA
• rugby
• Hector Bellerin
• Christoph Biermann
• Game Theory

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Game Theory: How Luck and Analytics shape football

Places: Doonbeg

More episodes of Second Captains

• Champions League Week, My Beak Is Soft, Troy Media · September 10, 2026 · 21 min
• Ep 3650: Katie Grabs The Mic, The Croker Crowd, Walk On Music - 07/09/26 · September 7, 2026 · 45 min
• Ep 3649: Troy La Liga Main Character, Arsenal 2.0, Stoic Carrick, Heavy Crane In Oxygen Tent, Sensei v Sensei - 04/09/26 · September 7, 2026 · 1h 7m
• Ep 3645: Andy Lee On Katie In Croker, Transfer Deadline Day, Ken's Premier League Predictions - 01/09/26 · September 1, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Ep 3644: Mad Money, Handsome Donkeys, Troy's Hits, Cherki's Laces - 31/08/26 · August 31, 2026 · 1h 7m
• Troy Watch, Which Country, Premier League Begins, Ken Returns · August 28, 2026 · 26 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Second Captains podcast page.