New British prime minister Andy Burnham has said that his morals have been shaped by Everton FC, the Catholic Church, and the labour party. Perhaps in that order. And indeed, Burnham’s politics were forged on the terraces, long before Downing Street. Journalist Adrian Goldberg, author of Where’s the Money Gone? The Battle for the Soul of English Football, traces the line from an Everton-supporting kid who lived through Thatcher-era identity cards and police hostility toward fans, to the political advisor who discovered fan ownership at Northampton Town, to the minister who broke ranks at a Hillsborough memorial service to demand justice for Liverpool supporters. Goldberg argues that same communitarianism now shapes Burnham’s premiership, even as it collides with the Gulf-state money remaking Manchester. A conversation about what football taught a generation of working-class Britons about power, and what one of them is now doing with it.
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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/
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