At The Match

To get all future episodes of At the Match, make sure you subscribe to European football podcast, On the Continent.  Andy will be posting all his latest travels in there, along with twice weekly chat from James Horncastle, Luke Moore, Marcus Speller and of course Andy Brassell. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

For the final part of series 1, Andy ends up back home as his struggling AFC Wimbledon take on Rochdale. It's been an unusual week for the club, with Wimbledon legends Wally Downes and Glyn Hodges appointed as the new management team and apologies abounding from Downes for past social media posts. Andy talks to Charlie Talbot, who was heavily involved with the club's 2002 set-up, about where politics sit in the AFC Wimbledon story, protest movement versus proper football club, how it all started and what past legends mean at a club with such a particular history. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Road trip! At The Match makes a midweek hop through the Eurotunnel to northern France as Thierry Henry's struggling Monaco visit Amiens - who, as luck would have it, are re-inaugurating their stadium on a gala night for the local community. The venerable Marcus Speller of The Football Ramble and On The Continent joins Andy to discuss his first live Ligue 1 experience, Amiens' Jurassic Park vibes and of course Henry's tough start to life as a head coach as he limbers up for Friday's Invincibles Derby, in which Monaco face Patrick Vieira's Nice. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

This week the pod goes to Dortmund, where one of the greatest atmospheres in the European game currently appears to have a team to match. Andy speaks to Jens Weber of schwatzgelb.de about the international attraction of BVB and how that's received by the fans, just why Jürgen Klopp was made for the club and the unity between rival fans against the authorities' plans to encroach on their matchday experience. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Andy makes the short hop across South London to Millwall to sample the capital's most central - and arguably its most atmospheric - stadium. Despite an underwhelming draw with fellow strugglers Bolton, the conversation zips along with Achtung Millwall podcaster @nickhart765 on the club's fierce reputation, the oft-ignored community engagement and the battle with Lewisham Council to keep the club's future - and its soul - alive. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

At The Match gets serious, with Andy arriving at Wembley for a match that really counts even if it is only November, as England take on Croatia in their final UEFA Nations League group game. In between catching his breath, he catches up with England home and away regular Steve Grant (@stevegrant1983) on what the inaugural tournament has done for the fans, how the changing attitudes to the national team have been absorbed by the hardcore and what the run to the semis in Russia was like - as well as just how to ingratiate yourself with the locals at Montenegro away. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

It's Thursday night under the lights for At The Match as Andy makes the short trip to Arsenal, on an underground train full of Sporting fans. At the Emirates a goalless draw gives way to a fascinating chat with AFTV founder Robbie Lyle on what it's like for The Gunners living with Europa League football, and how much his fan experience has changed with the phenomenal success of his channel For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

For the second part of ATM’s Serie A weekend, Andy travelled north to sample the Inter revival. At San Siro he caught up with coach and pundit Kevin Cauet, who first discovered the club when his father Benoit signed for the Nerrazzurri in 1997, when Kevin was 7. They talked about being part of the Inter family, the fans that have kept the club going through leaner times and how a dad explains to his son the joy of training with Ronaldo and Roberto Baggio. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

The pod makes its Serie A debut - Andy finally visits Napoli and gets to see Maradona on the side of a burger van, if not in the flesh. After the heat of Curva A in San Paolo, he talks the experience through with friend and photographer Samuel Ashton, on his own second trip to the city, with their conversation taking in El Diego, running tracks and the club’s ultra culture For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Andy’s latest stop is Sunderland where, despite chill autumn winds and two successive relegations, things are looking up. He stops for a chat with David Rose, the FSF’s deputy chief executive and lifelong Sunderland fan, on how the club’s new owners have built stronger links with the supporters, what good his new Red and White Army supporters group are doing in the community and - as fellow fans Peter Daykin and Jonathan Wilson chip in - why life outside the Premier League really isn’t that bad. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Andy’s latest stop is Los Angeles, going to LAFC in their inaugural MLS season - and much to his surprise finds a noisy, vibrant new club replete with an authentic terrace culture. After watching Will Ferrell lead some terrace chants, we speak to Jose Salcedo of the District 9 Ultras, plus 3252 members Karla Villaseñor and Sam Ko, finding out where this extraordinary young club gets its soul from, why being in downtown Los Angeles is crucial, and why - even though their local rivals have Zlatan - they don’t envy the Galaxy. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

This is At The Match, a new series in which European football journalist Andy Brassell brings you with him to matches all over the continent, sharing the atmosphere and the stories around the clubs and their communities. In this inaugural episode Andy travels to Cardiff for Wales’ meeting with Spain. He speaks to Russell Todd of Podcast Pêl-droed on what following the national team means, the identity of Welsh football, what returning the Millennium Stadium was like and Bobby Gould’s kit design skills For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy