If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be sitting here writing about the future of the twofootedtackle podcast, I’d have probably laughed. At the time, we probably didn’t quite expect it to last two months, let alone years.
I can still remember the week we first started. After several conversations about podcasts, Chris happened to mention to me that his work place had a studio. I said I had a background in radio. We looked at each other and decided to go for it.
One week later, we’re sat in the studio with an old friend of mine from university, John Stanton, who happened to be the then sports reporter for the South London Press. In truth, we didn’t really know what we were doing. Some might say we still don’t.
But once the record button was hit, there was no going back. And 78 episodes later, here we are.
You’ve probably guessed by now where this is going. After two years of getting round a table once a week with an assorted cast of the great and good from the online football community, we’ve decided to call it a day on the twofootedtackle podcast. We didn’t quite intent it like this, but last week’s podcast with Jonathan Blezard will be our last.
It’s been a hugely difficult decision to make and a massive wrench to give up that hour or so we spent talking about football, but it’s also one that Chris and I have discussed several times over the past months. It’s not an overnight decision, but a culmination of several different things.
If you’re looking to blame anyone for our demise, blame Old Father Time. When Chris and I first started the podcast, we were both in different jobs. Since then our personal circumstances have changed, both work-wise and elsewhere.
You’ll have noticed Chris has missed a couple of pods recently through work. I’ve also found it increasingly hard to devote as much time as I’d like to the podcast due to my current job (which, I hasten to add, I enjoy immensely and wouldn’t swap for the world).
So when you’ve got the two main co-hosts struggling to even watch highlights or research topics, this becomes a problem. And it was increasingly clear, often at 1.30am when I was desperately catching up on the highlights I needed to have watched to have any kind of clue what I was talking about, that we couldn’t go on like this.
We’ve always maintained that, even if we’re occasionally a little shakey on some areas, that we want the podcast to be as good as it can possibly be. And, in all honesty, if this means quitting rather than see it amble slowly downhill, then we’d rather quit when we’re somewhere in the middle.
You’ll have also noticed a change in the sound quality recently. To those of you who’ve complained about it, I’m sorry it’s ruined your enjoyment of the podcast. We were just hugely grateful to find somewhere to record. The alternative was no podcast at all.
I’ve no doubt that, given a bit of time or effort, we could have sorted this but this relied on both of us having said time in the first place.
When Chris moved jobs at the end of 2010, we lost the studio his employers had generously let us use from the very start. This meant casting around for an alternative area. Finding another studio willing to let us record for free was impossible and we couldn’t afford to hire one.
We’re incredibly grateful to pod regular Theo Delaney for lending us use of his offices at Hotspur and Argyle to record over these past weeks. Theo is a fantastic bloke, a great guest and incredibly generous. We’re hugely grateful to him.
This new location also has the advantage of being slap in the middle of London, making it a lot more convenient for guests than our previous location.
We could have decided to record remotely, over the intetnet and Skype when we lost the studio. Ironically, we may well have had better sound quality if we’d gone down this route. But for me that was never an option.
One of the joys about the podcast has been meeting such a varied bunch of bloggers and football fans who’ve passed through the TFT “studios”. And there’s something much nicer about doing a pod face to face – you can pick up on the way the conversation is going and it sounds more relaxed and natural. You don’t really get that with remote recording.
It’s been a huge wrench to say goodbye to the podcast. But I think it both Chris and I need this. There’s only so much time we can put into a podcast before we burn out.
And, while we tend to take criticism on the chin, it’s very disheartening when your only email from a listener each week is a list of complaints about things they don’t like about a podcast you’ve spent several hours preparing, recording and editing into the small hours of the morning for free.
Ah yes. Free. The thought of charging for the podcast was also never an option. We never thought of the podcast as anything other than free.
In all honesty, while earning money from it would have been nice, charging would have brought added pressures to justify people spending money on listening to us talk shite. Which would have meant more time to get it how we wanted, which we didn’t… yep, you see where we keep coming back to, don’t you.
For all this, I’m proud of the podcast. Even though I don’t think I’d ever be entirely satisfied with any episode (Chris doesn’t know this, but I have a notebook full of observations for improvement on each episode), I still got great pleasure listening to them back.
I’m also proud that we, in our way, beat our own drum. Ten minutes on Godalming Town, Plymouth Argyle’s financial issues, or Iran v Russia over an England friendly? A regular MLS section? Yes please. These topics, to us, were far more fun than waffling on about the Premier League.
We’ve even, unexpectedly (and in our eyes, probably undeservedly) been nominated for awards. When I look at who we’re shortlisted against, I can only shake my head and wonder how we managed to end up on that list in the first place. It’s quite humbling to think so many of you listen to us every week.
It’d be perhaps a bit foolish and premature to say this is the very end and there will be no more podcasts. Our situations may change again, we may decide to revive it at a later date, we may decide to try something different.
But those are ideas for another day. At the moment, my only plans for Thursdays involving collapsing in front of the sofa with a nice glass of red. But we may return someday, so keep us in your iTunes feed and we’ll announce anything special on here.
We’ve had a wonderful, varied time on the podcast and each and every one of our guests has been fantastic. Asking James Appell to join the pod as a semi-regular guest was, I think, one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
James is one of those people who has a level of knowledge of the game far beyond mine. It was always fascinating to hear his views and I’ve learnt a hell of a lot about Russian football. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say James lifted the pod to a new level.
It would be unfair to single out any one guest, as each and every one of them has been fantastic. Whether they’re challenging my views, giving us their expertise on an area I know nothing about, or just coming out with great one-liners, they’ve all been fantastic.
Yes, even the random American girls who joined Chris, me, and Ollie Irish one week to talk about Oldham. That’s the only time I’ve ever been left speechless.
It’s been an honour to have been able to chat football for over an hour with the likes of Tim Vickery, Andy Brassell and Caroline Barker. But I’ve also loved the pods where we’ve just got fans like Ben Shaw or Laura Oliver in.
That to me encapsulates the spirit of the pod. One week we’re chatting with one of the authorities on South American football, the next week we’re quizzing a Luton Town fan.
To all our guests: Thank you.
Thank you also to the aforementioned Caroline Barker, Theo Delaney, David Edwards and Picklive for their offers of help at various points on the pod. They have been hugely appreciated and have gone far beyond the call of duty.
To Chris and James: Thank you for being fantastic co-hosts.
And to you, dear listener, thanks for tuning in to three or four people spouting nonsense in a small room each week. It’s been an honour. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have.
Gary Andrews
London, Tuesday 22nd February
Tags: twofootedtackle podcast
Isn’t there some unwritten rule that you have to do one last podcast now?
Was a great honor to listen to you on a weekly basis (especially when you answered by question about the Asian Champions League final!). I wish you all the best of luck in the future. It was brilliant.
But yeah in all seriousness, I agree with Shivam. It’s been brilliant listening to you guys. I’ll come to terms with it, eventually.
Shame the pod is ending guys. Used to listen to it religously last year, but since I left uni and got a full time job I’ve had to drastically cut my podcasts and as such I’ve not listened in about 6months… in that sense it kind of feel its my fault! But, when I used to listen I loved it, especially the MLS coverage, no one else ever even mentions it! Good luck for the future.
A damn shame. TFT stood out from the crowd in a way that most pods could only aspire to. Hopefully all the regulars and guests will pop up on the airwaves somewhere else, sometime soon. Nevertheless, TFT will be greatly missed.
Oh, and to the people moaning about sound quality, you are idiots. Idiots. I was going to send in an email containing sentiments to that effect recently, but never got around to it. For that, I apologise! See you at Socrates.
A fond farewell to a very good podcast of consistent quality that was always intelligent and entertaining, and one of only two (Caroline Barker’s being the other) that covers the murky world of non-league with the rigour that it almost inevitably requires.
I agree on James Appell, he’s always very intelligent and thought-provoking. I’d put him up there with Matthew Syed and Sid Lowe as one of the most interesting contributors to any football podcast. And I’m not even particularly interested in Russian football.
But while the guests were consistently good, it’s important that Gary and Chris recognise their own contributions too. You both clearly put a lot of work into this and 78 episodes is a belting achievement.
Thanks for the kind words everybody. As I said above, this really wasn’t an easy decision.
Alex, don’t worry about not turning in recently (the old ones are still available) – we worried about listener numbers, we’d have given up ages ago.
Eric, sadly there’s no plans for a final pod just yet, mainly due to our unavailability over the next few weeks. Sorry to provide a short, sharp shock rather than letting everyone done gently!
Hi,
Thanks very much for your efforts making the podcast. I only got into it over the last 6 months but i looked forward to every episode. It was quality, and i really liked the attention to some of the off the beaten track football clubs, countries and issues.
There’s not really much to add to Gary’s post and to his thanks for listening and your generous comments – we’ve discussed all of this at length and he very much speaks for me too.
However, I’d like to pay personal tribute to our guests and especially to Gary, without whom this would never have happened in the first place. It’s been a pleasure working with you and you’ve been an essential driving force behind the project that makes me prouder than any other.
Cheers.
Sorry to see the podcast go. I didn’t discover it until last spring, but it has been a pleasure listening over the past year. Thanks for all the effort you put into it.
I forgot about those random American girls. What a great show that was.
” even the random American girls who joined Chris, me, and Ollie Irish one week to talk about Oldham. ”
Do you still have that one, I’d love to listen! How many listeners did you have for each podcast out of interest? It’s an incredibly crowded market, anything into 3 figures is an achievement I’d say.
Hi kt
Not sure if we still have it since the change of server. I’ll have a look. Like a lady with her age, I won’t go into the specific listener numbers but we were generally towards the top end of three figures and occasionally scraped into four. It’s an achievement of which I’m immensely proud, particularly as my hunch is that our audience was probably a bit of a niche.
Sorry to hear about this, only started to listen before christmas but thouroughly enjoyed it.
As a MLS fan, I started searching for a few Euro-centric podcasts to broaden my scope a bit. I don’t have time to watch everything, and my first loyalty is to my own backyard — still, I like to have a little bit of insight to the other leagues when catching random games on TV.
TFT became my go-to, in part because you guys gave MLS a fair shake. I appreciate the outside view of our league. And when Chris decided to back my home side, DC United, it was a lock. (We’re in for a much better season at DCU — hope to still hear from you via Twitter, Chris Pontius blog, etc.)
So in the end, I found a well rounded show with news and insights across pretty much any league I where could catch a game — and hosted by a DCU fan. That’s about as much as I could possibly ask for.
Thanks for a great run, and all the best in future endeavors!
- R
As the pod’s finishing perhaps now is the time to ask the question that’s been bugging me (and, quite possibly, you too): is the dude really saying “Ashley Cole” on the music?
Thanks as ever.
@ Mike – can’t have been bugging me too much, that’s my mate’s song and I haven’t bothered to ask. I suspect he’s saying something along the lines of “icy cold”, because the track is called Winterland.
@ Rick – I’ll be bigging up MLS here and over at Football Fairground on a regular basis!
Thanks everyone again for your lovely comments.
Was I really that bad guys?!
Joking aside, it was a pleasure to be a part of your final show. If only I had know I would have done so much more!
78 episodes is a cracking run and I am sure we will hear you both again on the airwaves at some point.
A time to celebrate the success not commiserate.
The thing I liked about the pod was that everyone involved seemed so down to earth…just a group of folks who got together to talk football. Luckily the rest of us got a chance to listen in.
Best of luck on future endeavors,
Scott
Really sad to see you guys giving up. Most diverse podcast out there. Good luck in the future guys!
Chaps I absolutely loved taking part and listening when I wasnt – halcyon days. Good luck fellas and thank you very very much for the cherished memories, chat and laughter. Tim (and the Picklive team)
Big thanks to you and Chris for running such an excellent podcast. I will really miss it and thanks so much for letting me be a little part of it/letting me come in and ramble about Arsenal for 40 minutes and my unhealthy love for Double Deckers.
Must have been a very difficult decision to come to, but your loyal listeners and supporters will be here if you ever change your minds… x
Sad to see you go – maybe you can pod for special events in the future.
Anyway thanks and well done.
Aaagh, curses to you for wanting/needing a life! Only just started listening in the last couple of months, but really enjoyed the range of things you’d discuss, not just the prem top 4, though I fear my knowledge of Russian league football is already in decline.
Thanks for all you did, especially the effort to keep the podcast going when you lost the use of the studio. My only regrets are that I didn’t start listening earlier, and I don’t have a nice shiny new episode to look forward to at the end of the week. All the best in the future, and I’ll keep looking to see if something pops up now and again.
Hi, much like Brian above, I only started listening to this podcast very recently. As a more regular listener to the game/football weekly, finding this podcast was like a breath of fresh air. I’m sure there are many more like me, so on behalf of all skulking podcasters, thanks for all your work.
Very sad to read that your show will be no more, I have been following you for some time.
I agree with the first post in this thread:-
No last dance?
No swan song?
No final hurrah?
No going out with a bang?
Not even a Greatest Hits compilation?
Thanks for more kind words everybody, it’s really touching.
Nick, one of the problems, unsurprisingly, would be finding a day when both Chris and I are free to go out with a bang, as I think work-related stuff is keeping us both very busy over the coming weeks (Chris would have had to miss this Thursday’s pod, had it gone ahead). We might see what we can fit in at the end of the season, again, time depending.
I quite like the idea of a Greatest Hits
Although that would take a LOT of work!
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