The Prememento Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Beermat
The Beermat's flagship football podcast, taking a look at the Premier League in the most unique of ways.
Our epic journey begins as the Prememento Podcast looks to hit upon every country that's been represented in the Premier League.
In this episode there's a plethora of goalkeepers from across the pond to discuss, as well as some contentious characters from South America. We'll have all the stats you want to know and a whole host more you never even knew you needed!
Countries Covered: USA, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia & Zimbabwe
From the outside looking in, it’s easy to think that it doesn’t matter as much to some of the people involved in football. Though it may be their livelihood, the connection between occupation and obsession are at the opposite ends of the scale. That doesn’t apply to everyone however. Those that really take the game of football to heart and truly give themselves over to it, leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of further understanding, they stand out. Even if they don’t necessarily bring home every trophy to put up in the cabinet with them, those that put the work in tend to burn brighter in our memories and endear themselves to us all the more.
Marcelo Bielsa is so many things. It’s difficult to even know where to begin, given the scope of his experiences and adventures throughout world football. The stories are quite literally stuff of legend. So within that, The Prememento Podcast returns to kick off this season with the man that brought a sleeping giant back to life. Leeds United have been on their own journey and as such are a perfect fit for a manager who can stand among the giants of the game without ever having managed in the top flight in this country before. Their journey together into this promised land begins, just as we start off ourselves by attempting to tell the story of Bielsa. Both are sure to be some adventure.
Having looked at every club, every season and last time around the individual players themselves and how they related to the wider issues and narratives around the Premier League; this time we’re going one step further and look at the personalities and histories of those on the touchline. No one figure has more of a role in the fate of a football club than the manager and the Premier League has seen it’s fair share of characters. Both good and bad, inspirational and revolutionary or inept and comical, there’s a lot to choose from.
Just as we did last year, we’ve come back to the table (well, the beer garden) to kick this season off with ten names. Discover who we’ll be talking about, why they’ve been picked and the momentous events in English football history that we’ll get to go over again, one draft pick at a time.
Football is not everything, but it does bring us together. The time has come for the game itself to stop, for now at least. In light of the crisis that surrounds the world today, it all seems very insignificant. Fitting then – in that regard – that we too take out leave for now, with very possibly the most dramatic moment in Premier League history.
Ninety three minutes and twenty seconds. What transpired and followed will stand atop English football lore for quite some time. Though he will somewhat understandably never quite reach the same level of reverence, Edin Dzeko’s contribution that day in scoring that ninety second minute equalizer is arguably more important. In many ways, that kind of role summed up his entire career.
From everyone at The Beermat we hope you’ve enjoyed this season of the Prememento Podcast so far, which is now being put on hold until further notice. We will return when the time comes so that we can all be together once more. Whether it’s playing, supporting, cheering, jeering or simply watching. Football is not everything. But it will bring us together. Again.
Excess is such a part of the Premier League, the two as a concept are all but fused together. Flamboyance on and off the pitch, along with an acceptance of narcissism that laughs in the face of loyalty. Yet there are those that defy the stereotype. Men who thrived in this world; with dependability, endurance and a conspicuous consistency. Fans will follow these qualities. As it turns out, so will those around them.
Matt Holland personified the kind of battling midfielder that so many of us want in the hearts of our respective midfield. His non existent career at West Ham – let’s avoid the Frank Lampard comparisons shall we – and the fight to get back into the Premier League was as resilient as his six years in it. Not only that, the two clubs that dominate his career were at decisive points in their history. Its a tale of Ipswich and Charlton reaching for the continent and how painful it can be when teams overstretch.
Over the course of time; events become fables, fables become legend, legend becomes myth. Some players changed so much and held so much in the way of glory aloft, they can take on another aura entirely. Yet history is not always kind to them. There is one thing however that does stand the test of time. That which endures – thrives even – in the face of that success. Grudges that come out of switched loyalties last forever.
A domestic and international career filled with momentous highs, all come down to one or two moments where further glory is snatched away. A managerial career held back by presumption and misconception. Is it in these instances, where immortality is denied? It’s time to take a look back at one of the most decorated careers for a defender and look beyond the North London divide.
Given the fickle and cut throat nature of football in the Premier League era, there’s something to be said for the players that simply kept on playing. Years upon years of service, racking up the points and the minutes as everything else changed around them. In that time, the rise and image of the foreign mercenary became ever more prevalent. Someone who loyalty doesn’t mean anything and they don’t “get”it – whatever it is. For that alone, Jussi Jääskeläinen is a unique type of player.
Over the course of nearly two decades, playing for just two clubs his career – and ultimately fates and fortunes – are tied to one man. A contentious manager and a player who was anything but, yet tethered together by choice for so long. Once that connection was initially severed, it wasn’t so much about what the goalkeeper himself could save, but rather saving the club itself.
Ambition comes with a price. Experience comes with a warning. As players move from tier to tier among the Premier League hierarchy, it’s never quite the same as trying to get in among it in the first place. Youthful exuberance and trying to claim a place in the company of the elite in English football is a very different prospect to simply trying to maintain. When it comes to moving on, sometimes a move up in stature is a move down in importance.
Eight seasons, seven of which away from Selhurst Park. It is the outlier for many different reasons, including one of the all time trivia questions. He was brought in to compliment an Everton side that had just achieved something really special and yet were unable to finish the job. Similarly he was present when Fulham had their grand adventure in Europe. Still, all that truly matters is that one season in 2004/05; when Andrew Johnson had the top flight on the spot. Literally.
Single moments themselves do not spark revolutions. Yet every one is triggered by an isolated incident. For the Premier League to become the go to destination for the best football talent the world over, there had to be a tipping point. Someone who who would come in and elevate the game, who would – as a manager – dare to challenge the very face of English football.
His Newcastle career is still the stuff of legend, if nothing else than to serve as a warning. The circumstances surrounding it all fascinate nevertheless. Similarly, Chelsea are an extremely unique case study. Especially over the course of the pre Roman Abramovic days. This is mostly in part due to the disparity in terms of success at the top end of the table. But to say they were paupers is to remember it incorrectly. Players of incredible talent came in, trophies were held aloft and ultimately managers would still be sacked unjustly. Ruud Gullit was a trailblazer, in more ways than one.
Heroes don’t exist without villains. In footballing terms, the antagonist is often just anyone outside our own personal fanbases. It’s hard for a player to draw the kind of ire and ill-will from neutrals if he’s never done anything to their clubs. There are a certain few however that – for one reason or another – stand the test of time in terms of Premier League infamy.
There’s a hurricane of outrage to deal with in this episode and a direct parallel that has to be drawn to the modern day. Even all that with standing, this is a career filled with incident at various different clubs up and down the spectrum of English football. Underneath it all given that the potential that was there, questions arise of the role coaching has to play as well as the idea that circumstances at an early age can dictate what comes later.
Behind every footballer, there is the person. The former gets judged, often without the latter ever coming into question. Hopes, dreams and emotions are all reduced to games, goals and assists. People aren’t defined by their profession, regardless of how high profile it may be. The more you get to learn about the man behind the shirt, the more you’ll be surprised by the depth of their character.
Following up a legacy like that of Matt Le Tissier is an impossible task. Football moves on however and so to did Southampton, into a different era in every sense of the word. There are also – however briefly – spells at four different clubs, the majority of which at pivotal points in their history. One of which includes perhaps the most graphic tale of a dressing room bust up you’ll ever hear. All of this and more comprises the story of a man who was much more interesting than someone who just put the ball in the back of the net.
Self belief can carry you a long way in football, and those that have a sheer force of will above all others can bulldoze their way to success and drag everyone along with them. It’s the kind of determination that were it to be distilled into a single image, might very well just be one of the most iconic England photographs of a certain generation.
Old Trafford is one of the grand stages in world football. It’s where a glittering career began and potentially where a second act that initially looked so bright ended. And while there wasn’t enough there to restore former glory to one sleeping giant in English football, there was still time for him to bring another one back to the top flight, however briefly.
There’s something to be said for being the last man standing. At the highest level, it’s not a question of ability anymore, it becomes something more personal. Playing through a succession of eras and continuing to produce, at a time where the game itself has supposedly moved on; that’s not for everyone.
It didn’t work out for him going back to where it all began, and as a result there are questions over the transfer policy at the Vitality Stadium before the Cherries turn sour. Other than that though, this is an account of a player that through so many various different clubs and situations continued to score goals. In the process he managed to remind us all how powerful football can be as an escape and a release, when dealing with real life tragedy.
Nostalgia appeals so much because of it’s simplicity. We know the context for how something happened and what became of it. As football has evolved, so to has the reading of it become infinitely more complicated. Goalkeeping used to be about the uttermost basic of basics, to the point where it sounds almost patronizing to think nowadays. All you had to do, was stop the ball going in the net.
There was one name on everyone’s lips in the nineties when it came to English goalkeepers and Nigel Martyn wasn’t it. Which is a shame for a player who epitomized dependability. Remembered fondly and decorated by the fans of all the clubs he played for, it’s about time we put some respect on the name of one of the safest pair of hands out there.
Surprise and anticipation are forever tethered together. The mixture of the two plays out across every game of football ever played. Our disposition toward something we never could have seen coming lies within what we consider possible. That’s why when the truly unthinkable happens, it means that much more.
From being used as a substitute striker in the Champions League to the goals that helped seal the most surprising of Premier League titles, Robert Huth’s career has been anything but straightforward. A player that in one sense defies stereotype and on the other suits them more than most. Who left a club approaching it’s pinnacle and was still able to carve out a name for himself, outside of their shadow.
Within a lifetime, there are many seasons. Each one – good or bad – will hold a special place in our minds. A few of them may blur together and be associated with a specific points in our upbringing. These periods are often summed up by a sole individual, be they in the team itself or the dugout. Years of their professional life, distilled into a handful of touches. The comprised duration of our football supporting life, with our fates forever intertwined by how successful those touches are. Because of the nature of football, a single player can cross all these lines. Travelling from situation to situation, fanbase to fanbase and moment to moment. Each one capable of creating another chapter in not just their story, but ours as well.
Craig Bellamy holds the record of goals scored for different in the Premier League with a magnificent seven different teams he’s plied his trade for in the top flight. Within each of those clubs there is a multitude of controversy and intrigue. Hometown celebrations, playing a huge part in the Manchester inner city rivalry, being a part of that Newcastle team and of course a Nou Camp celebration for the ages. In a football world lacking true characters and those that bite their tongue, Craig Bellamy was not afraid to hold back. In any sense.
The feast of football continues this Boxing Day with the second of two huge Prememento Podcasts. Let’s raise a glass to how far we’ve come from a ridiculous concept discussed after having had one too many beers. In that sense maybe we’ve not changed so much after all…
Worth is a big concept in football. Perhaps even the biggest. While the money has risen astronomically over the years, it’s not the numbers so much as the context for them. Measuring value in a financial context alone is to get it backward. What they do on the pitch defines their price tag, not the other way around. In an era when one goal – one solitary kick of a ball can change the fortunes of a club overnight, it’s no wonder why they are the ultimate currency.
Moving up and down the ladder is as much a volatile journey for clubs as it is for players. All the while, greater expectation lays in wait, ready to pull the rug out from everybody. Whether it’s establishing yourself in the league at Portman Road and the Valley, or pushing much further up the table at White Hart Lane. Finding the light at the end of that tunnel led to a personal high, which in turn drove a certain Midlands club to put money on the table. That’s before it all came crashing to a halt and without even getting into an international career that wasn’t.
As part of this Boxing Day double bill as we build up to a century of Prememento podcasts, this is the tale of a striker who for one reason or another, the numbers never quite added up.
Like the game itself, a successful football career often comes down to timing. The right circumstances off the field are as key as the perfect pass on it. Join a club at the ideal time and with the right ability, the sky is the limit. Conversely when expectations are high and they don’t match up with resources, your time at the top can be cut short. As choices for players and the clubs that want to recruit them have exploded, even the moves that appear to be moving forward can end up taking you back.
Rare though they may be, there are still the moments when everything comes together. The stars align and something magical takes place. We all know anything can happen in football, but nobody was ready for when the viking clap took over an international football tournament and embarrassed a global powerhouse.
Change in football moves at a breakneck speed. What one day was accepted as absolute, very quickly finds itself lost in time. There’s so much to keep track of, it often gets lost in the shuffle. Those first ten years the Premier League had made steady progress within the home grown players that plied their trade, it was then the arrival of a few mercurial talents that would catapult the league onto the next level.
Very few players have maintained a level of output and intrigue like Nicolas Anelka. Exploding onto the scene and then burning so bright his star disappeared, only to return in a series of different incarnations. Much like the player himself, the clubs and scenarios he found himself in were all over the place at times. Some books don’t tend to get read because of the sheer size of them; in footballing terms this is one of them.
When it comes to getting over the line, a decision has to be made what other lines are there to be crossed. How far are you willing to go to get what you want? What’s more, there are questions to be asked when it comes to the idea of talent versus application. As with anything in football, in the end it all comes town to results.
For a player that people hated unless he was one of theirs, there was no love for the way he went out. While the finger of blame was halfheartedly pointed, when time and circumstance caught up with the Premier League’s top mischief maker there was no rejoicing. Being front and center at the worst season in terms of a points tally aside, as ever with Savage there were other twists and turns. Not least of all journey from Birmingham to Blackburn and the fall out from all of that.
Certain points in history are so important, they split the timeline down the middle and there is only what came before and what will now happen as a result. In that regard, those that put the most into those circumstances playing out should be rightly acknowledged for their efforts. Even for the fourteenth top scorer in Premier League history, things don’t quite work like that. Most players have obvious legacies; the more interesting ones are the ones you don’t hear about that often.
The Russian revolution at Chelsea doesn’t happen without Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. That there’s an even bigger jumping off point after that is a testament to the incredible scope of change that was going on at the time. The same could be said for his time at Leeds, where you he was revered and then reviled. He still even managed to fit in a couple of years during an all time high period on Teeside and a time of catastrophic ruin at The Valley.
Playing the most noticeable position, it’s not a surprise that goalkeepers tend to have bigger personalities. They’re a unique breed of footballer to the point of cliche, judged on completely different aspects to everyone else out on the field. The battle is more of an internal than external one, knowing that at the top levels it will be concentration that’s called upon rather than physical ability.
As calm as he was successful, the only eye opening thing about his time in England is how unheralded it is. From his first moment arriving in the country as a surprise transfer for the ages, before becoming a vital part in making Craven Cottage a unique Premier League destination long after he had left. After that he was called upon to fix a particular problem for Alex Ferguson, to be part of a Manchester United side that racked up trophy after trophy and would face it’s biggest test in the form of a once in a generation team.
The road to glory is filled with obstacles. How teams – let alone players themselves – manage to navigate in times of even relative stability is crucial. One false move can lead to a slippery slope and alter the course of a club indefinitely. Certain personalities are better equipped to being able to help steer everyone in the right direction. Even then there are still extraordinary circumstances that can bring everyone down.
Manchester City have found their way in recent years to fame and fortune but there was once a time when their priorities were much more modest. Being robust and reliable then allowed for the triumphs of today. There is also the story of a side that was too good to go down, an international career that peaked at the perfect moment and arguably an initial spell for which he is most known for.
On the pitch. Off the pitch. Player. Pundit. No matter how many times we try to separate out the differing aspects of a career, they ultimately all belong in the same place. We sometimes forget that there’s a person behind the headlines, whether they’re on the back or even the front page. Football is littered with those who talk, but how many of them actually have something to say?
The potential comeback that became a symbol of the kind of excess that doomed the Bantams. A local lad trying to give it his all for the club he supported as a boy. Scorer of the climactic goal in the greatest Premier League game ever played. An arrival into the top flight that made everyone sit up and take notice. For one reason or another, we’ve not stopped watching him since.
Though the game itself may be global, British – more specifically English – footballers rank very low in terms of successful exports around the world. For far too long it has seemed as though the home of football was always a couple of generations behind the tactics and styles that the rest of the world were embracing. But it appears that finally that may be beginning to change.
What a difference a year can make. Euphoric highs and meteoric lows. Moscow to Madrid and then back again in surprising unforeseen circumstances. In tracing where it went wrong at Spurs – not just for a player but a team – that now finds itself unraveling, we have to go back to the very beginning. To a long-serving coach that as the game and the whole league moved to a more continental style pulled in a different direction.
How it all ends makes us feel different about the beginning and middle. It’s easy to watch back old games as a fan even in the most dire of circumstances and know it’ll be alright in the end. The 90th minute winner is an joy of a different kind. But those goals don’t always arrive. Those games don’t always get turned around.
It could so very easily have ended in the kind of fairytale glory that we’re used to. The hometown boy, with the oldest cup competition in tow, surrounded by the fans that he once shared a terrace with. Rather than having a final chapter filled with a perfect denouement however, instead there is a half season at a rapidly sinking ship. For both Huddersfield and Jason Punchion, in place of joy, there is only what could have been.
For a team sport, there’s an incredible emphasis put on individuals. The Premier League itself multiplied that a thousand times over and become a conveyor belt of superstars. Yet in one of it’s earliest incarnations there came a duo. One that still resonates to this day. Everyone knows what happened to a certain Geordie, yet his strike partner gets little attention despite his own misadventures.
Bringing home the title to Ewood Park aside, there’s still so much to dissect. Chelsea were at the start of and would continue to spend serious amounts of money and yet his transfer remains among their most notorious. The very start of his career in the Premier League saw an iconic European upset and the chance at an even more spectacular crowning achievement. There is also the small matter of an England B fixture and an international career that could have been…
Popular opinion is such an invalid criteria when it comes to evaluating a players ability – or career – and yet it’s one of the biggest factors. Reputations aren’t built on how many medals anyone has had dangled around their neck, even if that’s kind of the whole point. At the same time, performances – regardless of how jaw dropping they may be – have to lead to something.
Two sides of the same coin. To very different sides in London, at very different periods in their development. Mercurial, divisive and pioneering a new breed of footballer to have come out of the early 2000s yet consigned to the history he helped define. Propping up an entire generation from a young age, to then join a dynasty in Spain only to come back to England to claim the honours that evaded him first time around. He won, but at what cost?
It began as a blank canvas. The Premier League as a whole has seen much in the way of diversity pass through it as the game has become more cosmopolitan, but at first there was very little in the way of variety. A select few paved the way for it to become more and more prevalent for managers to cast their nets to foreign shores to look for talent. They were the foundation for the global game we see today.
Representing the future and yet firmly molded in the old school, Gunnar Halle had a journey for the ages. From one of the all time last day great escapes to a side that went down on the brink of glory and have never recovered, with a few seasons at a Leeds side on their own rollercoaster ride in between.
This is an absolute must listen for Oldham fans and any of those who want to learn about football at the dawn of a new era. You’re all in for a special treat.
It’s difficult to explain how or why, but some players loom larger over certain clubs. Like a spectre, appearing infrequently to scare the locals. Their name on the teamsheet is terrifying. It doesn’t matter the run of form or even the respective ability, there’s just an inevitability about them.
Much in the same way that the goalscorer enjoys the limelight from the rest of his teammates, those at the top of their game grab more attention. The fight to simply be an established Premier League striker is hard enough, especially when it’s a position so many teams lower down the table depend on it all the more. Brighton needed someone to help them put down roots in the top division. Little did they know it would be someone who haunted them so many times in the past.
Being part of something special should be enough. Enough to guarantee your place among the recognition of football fans everywhere. Enough to satisfy personal motivations. That’s not always the case though. For Nick Barmby it took going home again. Coming back the place his heart had never left. What was meant to be a final chapter had a surprise ending on a book that had way more twists and turns than anyone remembers.
From one of the brightest English youth prospects to perhaps their greatest non tournament victory, via Middlesbrough. Crossing the Mersey divide from blue to red. Being a part of a club team that won a cup treble. Taking his hometown club from League One to the Premier League. This is the story of a player that did so much more than you ever hear, which is exactly why we have to tell it.
We take for granted the familiar. That they are immortalized in our minds eye in a very specific way ignores the role circumstance has to play. Dion Dublin is one of the most recognizable faces from the early years of the Premier Football. His very face conjures up very specific images of Aston Villa and Coventry kits of the past. But it all could have been so different.
Before we even get to the moment that changed everything, we have to talk about what was. Two long standing stints at two different clubs, separated by very little in terms of distance and yet far apart in terms of direction. There’s also the fallout from his move from one to the other, and how it threatened to undo what was perhaps the most significant part of his career.
Bringing through and developing young talent is one of the most important things any manager is tasked with. Pep Guardiola is widely regarded as being not just among the top of the class in terms of his generation of coaches, but of management at the top level full stop. His Manchester City side set the league alight, collecting almost 200 points in two seasons. In that time, one youthful addition has been a surprise emergence with in the team. His name isn’t Phil Foden.
This season we said we’d take a very unique approach to the players we would be talking about and this is very much part of that. What does the future hold for someone who owns the best introductory run in terms of winning games and has now had that streak broken? How exactly has he filled the need for Man City at what was a problem position? Most importantly of all, what does his sudden development say for the rest of those wanting to break into that team?
In the mid-ninties, as the Premier League was becoming an ever increasing global phenomenon so too did the rest of the world introduce itself into in English football in a big way. The reach was just as far in terms of a pool of talent as it was beaming to television audiences across the continents. Kanu might not have been the first African – or even Nigerian – player to play in the Premier League but he came, he saw and he very much conquered.
In this episode we deep dive into a true legend of the game that doesn’t quite get the modern recognition his standing deserves. An inspirational figure wherever he went, it’s not so much about the legacy he left in the Premier League but legacies plural.
Of all the things that have changed over the years, still one thing remains the same; it’s hard work being a goalkeeper. All the blame and none of the credit. Heurelho Gomes is someone that has been on both sides of that experience. Ridiculed at Spurs yet lauded at Watford, is it as simple as the respective gap in reputation for the two sides? Football never is.
From the quality of the defenders ahead to the expectation and sheer volume of work required to be seen as a competent shot stopper for one of the Premier League’s top four teams, the Prememento podcast is here to get our hands on what it takes to be the number one.
Everyone is the hero of their own story. In certain scenarios, you’ll even be prominent enough to be the villain. Underdog, underachiever or even underestimated. Throughout a top flight career the player doesn’t change. The perception does.
Charlie Adam had two very defined careers. The majority of his days are spent in amongst contemporaries, to which he carves a solid but ultimately forgettable slice of Premier League football. Before that came the big move that wasn’t, to a club that needed much more than he could provide at the time. There’s also the small matter of one of the all time campaigns for a player at a club that was never meant to be that high in the first place.
In the last twenty years every position has been redefined. Perhaps none more so than that of the fullback. What once was simply a job of what a player can do at the defensive end, became all about what can be done at the other. That’s why this episode we’re going into the career of one of the first of those hybrids and and yet as unspoken about as he is influential; Ian Harte.
From the roller-coaster days at Leeds to his last Premier League game, having battled back from a perception of being past it. This is a look back at a player who stood on the cusp of all the radical tactical changes that were about to unfold in his position. Not to mention his daring move abroad, at a time very few British players would dare take the leap.
There’s no denying that of all the players to lace up a pair of boots in the Premier League, Wayne Rooney is among the most memorable and iconic. But rather than being hoisted above everyone’s collective shoulders, his reputation is rather different. Why is that?
We deep dive into the career and ability of a true Premier League mainstay, in Prememento Podcast style. From Everton to Everton with Man United in between.
The concept is simple, in that it isn’t.
What started as a bright idea after one beer too many just keeps on going. The Prememento Podcast is back for it’s biggest season ever.
This time around, the focus is squarely on the players that made the Premier League. Over the course of the next nine months we will be going all in on the players that made the English top flight what it is. With a little sprinkling of Prememento time travelling magic.
Ahead of such a monumental season however, we decided to let chaos reign. Ten names of the season will be revealed in the first ever Prememento Draft. Two hosts, five picks each. Out of every player that’s ever played in the Premier League, who will be picked?