Nessun Dorma Retro Football Podcast
An in-depth, nostalgic celebration of football in the eighties and nineties, where the wider world of sport and popular culture are occasionally welcome visitors. nessundorma.substack.com
Episodes
August 1, 2025 • 83 mins
With the regular show on a short summer hiatus until later in the month, we will share some of the excellent questions that our Patrons have been asking us since we started there last year. Best uncapped England players of the 80s and 90s, the binning of the Cup Winners' Cup, Fulham's impact on the English game, the most quintessential live tv match of the 80s and a lot more.
This episode was first aired on Patreon on 15 Oct 2024....
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July 25, 2025 • 59 mins
It is Gary's turn to change one moment in tournament history and run us through the consequences. This time it is the Dutch penalty against Scotland - slightly soft and against the run of play - that is removed from time. Could Ally's Army actually march far? Would Scottish football fans ever be allowed to be optimistic about anything ever again? Have a listen and let us know what you think!
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July 18, 2025 • 57 mins
England didn't have the best squad of the 1998 World Cup. Not even in the top four. And yet, it isn't always that simple. Martyn lays out his case to Rob that this was an underrated lost opportunity for England and it had nothing to do with the Argentina game. And we also missed out on one of the best World Cup semi-finals of all time.
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July 11, 2025 • 63 mins
The 1990 World Cup is one that we know so well that we can almost say for sure where we were when we watched every game. But what if one moment was changed? What if Nery Pumpido had managed to smother François Omam-Biyik's header in the San Siro? Would we have had a better football tournament as a result? Rob and Martyn enjoy some counterfactual history by changing one goal and seeing what would happen as a result.
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July 7, 2025 • 68 mins
As a one-off summer treat we are making our weekly Patreon show open to all. This Week is available every Monday morning and has two Nessun Dorma regulars picking out seven stories from football history that coincide with the coming seven dates in the week.
Rob and Martyn have plenty to work with this week and they reflect upon three World Cup Finals, three semi finals and two massive signings.
7 July
8 July
9 July
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July 4, 2025 • 99 mins
And so it is time to bid adieu to Euro '84 as France and Spain meet in the final and so much of Europe craving a home victory for the good of the game. Martyn, Aidan and Jonathan look at a final ruined by nerves, assess the tournament's legacy, where Platini's individual performance sits among the greats and put together their best XI of the Championship.
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June 27, 2025 • 78 mins
After the European football public had caught their breath following the first semi final, most assumed that the finale itself had the potential to be the best of all. Denmark were strong favourites to beat Spain - who were extremely fortunate to still be active in the competition - and set up a beautiful footballing conclusion to an enjoyable tournament.
However, many Spanish players believed that luck was with them. Something th...
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June 20, 2025 • 76 mins
Aidan Williams and Jonathan O'Brien return to luxuriate in perhaps the greatest European Championship match of all time. With time ticking by, it felt like it was all going wrong again for France, destined forever to come up short at the big events. Within five minutes, the entire narrative was changed.
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June 13, 2025 • 58 mins
"The German monster has survived too long" opined Le Soir on 21 June 1984. And that was one of the more sober conclusions.
After the way France's World Cup had ended, schadenfreude was not in short supply when the reigning European Champions went home before the real action started. It was also one of the two games that was shown live in the UK.
Jonathan O'Brien joins Martyn to make sense of Group 2 with a surprise Iberian challe...
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June 6, 2025 • 98 mins
If the host nation were nervy in that opening night in Paris, they quickly shrugged it off throughout the rest of Group 1. Platini's seven goals in three games, the young promise of Scifo and Stojković, the shackles around the Romanians and the disgrace that derailed Belgium give Martyn and Aidan Williams lots to talk about in a group that produced 23 goals.
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May 30, 2025 • 75 mins
Martyn, Rob and Aidan are back to finish off this memorable qualifying story. Italy were seemingly on a post-World Cup gap year, Northern Ireland managed to beat West Germany home and away and still finish second - a tale of glorious failure that would become more familiar for some home nations - and the Netherlands were booking their hotel after setting Spain the task of winning their final game by 11 clear goals...
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May 23, 2025 • 57 mins
It is tournament time again in the Nessun Dorma marathon and this time we revisit one that was, in the words of one writer, 'the greatest tournament you never saw'.
That writer was Aidan Williams and he joins Rob and Martyn in the first of two parts that tell the remarkable story of qualification for Euro '84, a tale that is almost as dramatic as the Finals themselves.
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May 16, 2025 • 79 mins
Never before or since, has one league been as strong throughout European football. Author and friend of the show, Dominic Hougham joins Martyn to talk about his upcoming new book charting the years between 1988/89 and 1998/99 when Serie A bestrode the continent like a colossus. Owners were as famous as the galaxy of star managers and players as mega clubs and those more provincial managed to get their hands on European prizes and t...
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May 9, 2025 • 53 mins
With season 1983/84 all done and dusted, it is time to take a sporting break as the excellent writer David Goldblatt joins Martyn to discuss that summer's Olympic Games. The epitome of an increasingly commercialised sporting world, these Games made money like never before. David takes us through just how they did, why it will never happen again, the difficulty that the USA had in taking Carl Lewis to their heart and no tears for Zo...
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May 2, 2025 • 94 mins
Mac and Gary are suited and booted and ready to return to Wembley as they revisit the day that their respective sides went head-to-head in the FA Cup Final. Questionable pre-match entertainment, the coming of age of young and exciting side and a controversial decider. What a way to round off the season!
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April 28, 2025 • 78 mins
Gary carries his title into an action-packed Olympic year with plenty for him, Mike and Mac to choose from. Two Olympic games, one international tournament, some legends enhancing their reputations while others were just emerging alongside some controversy on the track and a rocket man over the stands.
But who will be able to convince Martyn that they have best captured the sporting year of 1984?
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April 25, 2025 • 79 mins
With Europe firmly in the grip of English dominance, it was the turn of one of the country's best cup teams to step up. Gareth Dace, historian of Tottenham Hotspur in the 1980s and 1990s, joins Martyn this week to take us through the UEFA Cup winning run of 1983/84. Battle-hardened by narrow exits to Barcelona and Bayern Munich in recent seasons, it was a squad ready to go all the way.
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April 18, 2025 • 101 mins
It was another season of domestic dominance for Liverpool but after two consecutive disappointments beyond the Iron Curtain, it was time to regain their European crown. Tony Evans returns to discuss the Souness farewell tour, mental strength, Joe Fagan, Roma fans and much more.
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April 11, 2025 • 41 mins
We move from the pitch to the boardroom this week as football finance expert Kieran Maguire joins Martyn to reflect upon Tottenham Hotspur's decision to become the first football club to float on the stock exchange in 1983. How much of an impact did it have on the wider game, the influence of Irving Scholar and the catalyst to further commercialisation are all on the agenda.
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April 4, 2025 • 126 mins
Rob and Martyn bring you a bumper episode this week as they relive the events of one of British football's most remarkable days. On the morning of Wednesday 25 April 1984 there was a chance that all six of Europe's finalists that season would be British. Intrigue, corruption, class and heartbreak all feature as we run down the day and night as it unfolded in Rome, Bucharest, Brussels, Turin, Aberdeen and north London.
Was this as ...
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