Episode 53: The Damned United by David Peace

In our first episode this year, we review our first football novel, David Peace’s The Damned United 📖⚽   Having already reviewed both Clough and Taylor’s autobiographies, this was Alistair’s way of cramming in more Clough 😄   The book has been described as the best novel about football 🏆📚 — a fictionalised account of what happened during the 44-day reign of Clough (and don’t forget Taylor) at Leeds United ⏳⚽ It’s also been made into a film 🎬, which we discuss too.   🚨 Spoiler alert: the 44 days didn’t go well…   Happy New Year, folks 🎉 Have a smashing 2026! 🥂✨

To mark the festive season 🎄, we discuss some of the weightier religious and historical topics 📜✝️ such as the cause of Herod’s death ☠️ and the schism between the Catholic and Protestant churches ⛪️⚔️⛪️. Yes indeed, it’s a Christmas 5-a-side ⚽️🎅.   Join us as we find ever more tenuous and tangential ways 🧵🤔 to connect top footballers to the 25 December 🎁🎂 and find out if Al can get a nice early present for himself 🎁😬 with a long-overdue win in the ongoing Injury Time draft series 🏆.   And as it’s the season of goodwill to all men 🤝✨, please do give us a nice rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.   Merry Christmas, folks! 🎄🍷🎙️

Pour yourself a very very large glass of wine 🍷, sit back 🛋️, and enjoy Episode 52 of the Dynamo Football Bookclub.   This week, we are taking a lesson in humility from Big Sam Allardyce. 📘   The Premier League’s original innovator turned reactionary, Big Sam elbowed his way up and down England as a player before becoming one of the most noteworthy managers of the Premier League era. His Bolton team really were something back in the day ⚪️⚽ with flair, grit 💪, and no shortage of long punts up the field despite what Sam might say.   It was a management career that started with humble Limerick FC 🇮🇪 and hit some memorable high notes 🎶 before ending on the sour notes of England and Leeds 😬.   It was a heck of a journey for the Big Man Brute who is not, as it turns out, from the north of England 😂.   Join us for Sam’s rose-tinted view of it all. 🌹👓

We are skin deep in Episode 21 of the Dynamo Football Bookclub’s Injury Time looking at footballers’ tattoos. 🏉🖋️   From numerology with Sergio Ramos 🔢 to Richarlison’s tattoo tribute to team mate and all-around good guy Neymar 🇧🇷✨, there is quite a lot to talk about.   Will Johnny take up Al’s offer of a five-figure sum to get a tattoo of Al’s face? 🤔💰😬 And more importantly, can Al finally win one of these damn drafts? 🏆🤞   More important questions answered in Episode 21 of Injury Time. 🎙️ Please do likey and subscribe. 👍🔔

In Episode 51, we’re back with the Oranje 🇳🇱 as we dive into Basta, the autobiography of the one and only Marco van Basten.   The rather oddly nicknamed “Swan of Utrecht” 🦢 rattled in 242 goals and swept up everything in sight: three Eredivisie titles 🏆, four Scudetti 🇮🇹, two European Cups 🏆🏆, and not one, not two, but three Ballons d’Or 🥇🥇🥇   And he did all this before the age of 28. Amazing, football’s Alexander the Great ⚔️   Tune in to discover: Who slammed the door 🚪 in Van Basten’s face for treachery How deep his love ❤️ for Silvio Berlusconi runs What he really thought of Arrigo Sacchi’s revolution 🤯 And what is in the infamous Box 13 📦… If you enjoy the episode, please like, subscribe, and leave us a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — it genuinely helps the show grow.

It’s injury time on Injury Time ⏱️⚽️   In Episode 20, we pay homage to all those fine fellows whose careers were brought to a premature end due to injury 🤕💔   From the most famous (David Busst) 😬 to some of the more obscure and unlikely — including the goalkeeper who ended his career up a tree while rescuing a cat 🧤🐈🌳   There is also the harrowing tale of the end of a Sprite-drenched Alistair’s fledgling career 🥤😵‍💫 Oh, what could have been…   Please do tune in 🎧, like 👍, subscribe 🔔, and tell your friends all about The Dynamo Football Bookclub 📚⚽️    

🎉 EPISODE 50! 🎉 We’re celebrating our half-century in style — that’s right, it’s Denis Wise’s autobiography 😏📖⚽️   Wise is one of the three musketeers of English football books. Along with Glenn Hoddle and Steve McMahon, he somehow appears in everyone else’s autobiography — and almost no one ever has anything nice to say about him 😬😂   But rather than just blindly swallowing whatever’s served up by untrustworthy footballers, we decided to go straight to the source. 🎯   Denis’ 2012 autobiography is a suitably short book 🪶 — written while he was still playing, and includes: 📖 The greatest ever FA Cup story 🥜 Vinnie Jones’ penchant for grabbing balls 💥 And all the amazing things we’ve apparently lost to “woke”   It’s Episode 50 — a milestone and a madness all in one 🎙️ Please do tune in, like, and subscribe ❤️⚽️    

🎶 “It’s not time to make a change…” 🎶 It's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy our Father & Son 5-a-side Draft!   Welcome to Injury Time 19 — the Scott Gemini Nepo Baby Special 👨‍👦⚽️😂   This week, we’re drafting the sons of footballing legends to face off on the pitch. It's rich pickings indeed 🤌💎 Turns out a lot of footballers are, well… footballers’ kids. Who knew?! 😏   Tune in for: 👨‍👦 Football father-son trivia 📚 The lively chatter you've come to expect from DFB 👀 A couple of controversial or perhaps ill-advised picks  😈 And the eternal question — can Alistair make a dint in Johnny's lead in the series...   🎧 Tune in and please do like and subscribe

  ⚽️ “Episode 49: Reboot – The Michael Owen Story”   Is Michael Owen football’s oddest ball of all? 🧐   From the helicopter highs of that goal against Argentina 🚁⚽️ to the hamstring horrors that followed (quite a lot of them 😬), Owen’s career was a tale of glory, pain, and lots of grudges.   In this week’s episode, we dive into Reboot, Owen’s attempt to set the record straight — revisiting his electric early years, his complicated later life, and his, er… unique way of remembering it all.   For reasons we didn’t quite expect, this turned out to be unlike any other football book we’ve read.   🎧 Tune in, have a laugh, and don’t forget to like, follow, and subscribe — your support keeps the hamstrings warm. 💪

☁️ The clouds have lifted over Old Trafford since the weekend with United’s smash-and-grab win down at Anfield — but has the storm truly passed? ⚡️   United’s failures on the pitch in recent years have only been compounded by the uncanny ability of their former flops to reach new heights away from the stifling drag around the Theatre of Dreams 🏟️.   In this episode of Injury Time, we see if United fan Johnny can put together a 5-a-side team ⚽️ of current United players that can beat United-hater Alistair’s team of cast-offs and rejects 🚷. Is Šeško better than Rashford? How does Dorgu compare to Elanga? 🤔   Johnny is ahead in the series — but only just. Can Alistair bring them level, or can Johnny put some space between the two? 🔴⚫️   🎙️ Note: This episode was recorded before United’s aforementioned victory over Liverpool 🏆 and Forest’s appointment of, ahem, Sean Dyche. 😬 Yikes.