This week’s guest is the first Colombian to appear on this pod with the very un-Colombian name of David Arrowsmith. David’s father was English, his mother was Colombian and it was his football mad mother who took him to his first match at Wembley in May 1988 when England drew 1-1 with Colombia in the Rous Cup. Gary Lineker scored one of his many England goals but the Colombian equaliser was the only career goal of the ill-fated Andres Escobar.
David has written a couple of books about football in South America including 2024’s NarcoBall – Love, Death and Football in (Pablo) Escobar’s Colombia and this year’s Killing Maradona – How Cocaine, the Camorra and Crime corrupted football’s greatest talent. So, as you can expect, David has a few tales to tell about the seedier side of South American football. We also learn how he has a penchant for players with plenty of flowing locks/unusual haircuts such as Carlos Valderrama, Paul Walsh and the lesser-known Bradford City’s Jamie Lawrence.
Part 1 – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/david-arrowsmith-part-1–75590656
Part 2 – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/david-arrowsmith-part-2–75625810
This week’s Guardian piece looks at the sudden flurry of British players who have headed to Italy, led by this summer’s English contingent of John Stones, Djed Spence and Curtis Jones who have all moved to Inter Milan. There are more British players currently playing in Italy’s top flight than ever before. Along with TNT Sports’ Serie A commentator Adam Summerton, I look at some of the reasons behind this phenomenon.
