Hope Akpan | Mikel Arteta's Dark Arts, Owen Coyle's Christmas Dinners & The Premier League Dream!

This week Jordan & Gaz are joined by former Everton, Crawley, Reading, Blackburn, Burton & Bradford midfielder...HOPE AKPAN! Hope sits down with the boys to discuss all things football from coming through the ranks at Everton to making his debut for the Nigerian national team. The lads start the pod by discussing Hope's time in Finland and why it lead to his early retirement from the game. Hope then talks about his life growing up in Liverpool before being scouted for Everton and coming through the ranks before eventually making his senior debut in the Europa League alongside Mikel Arteta, Yakubu & Tim Cahill. Hope then speaks about getting released by David Moyes before kick starting his football career with Steve Evans at Crawley and why playing lower league football is a completely different style of play. They then chat about Hope's big move to Reading which saw him eventually live his dream by playing in the Premier League, the heart break of relegation and narrowly missing out on play-offs before moving back up North to Blackburn. The trio then discuss Hope's time at Blackburn, why it was so enjoyable as well as the lack of training under Owen Coyle. Hope recalls his time playing for the Nigerian National Team alongside John Obi Mikel and what it was like to experience a different side of football. Finally they end the pod discussing Hope's time at Burton, why he needed to stay in the Championship to have a chance of going to the World Cup before honestly admitting his switch to Bradford was a bad decision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices