The Blizzard

The Blizzard Q&A recorded live at the National Football Museum as part of the Manchester Football Writing Festival, on the evening of 1st September. With a panel of Blizzard contributors - David Conn, Andy Brassell and editor Jonathan Wilson - hosted by the Football Ramble's Marcus Speller. A heavyweight first half features discussion on the key takeaways from this summer's transfer window, the effect of the new Premier League TV deal, a mention for the Chinese stock market and some talk about financial fair play and the corrupt nest of debauchery that is Fifa. In the second half the panel looked at footballers' diva moments, answer a fan's query as to WTF is going on at Man United, ponder the lifespan of a manager and the tactical dunce that is Laurent Blanc. There's also some chat on the role of the full-back, and recollections of difficult/awful interviews, which throws up the unlikely triumvirate of Darius Vassell, Dave Whelan and Colin Kazim Richards. As ever with our live events we do the best we can with the sound quality at our disposal, what with roving mikes, the odd bit of feedback, guaranteed big laughs and on this occasion Jonathan Wilson doing an impression of a raving Louis van Gaal spiking the top of the microphone range. Those minor issues aside, we trust you'll enjoy the podcast.