Set Piece Menu Football Podcast
This is Set Piece Menu - the podcast where four friends talk about football over food. They are together a writer, a commentator, a presenter and a pundit. Rory Smith is the Chief Soccer Correspondent of the New York Times, Steven Wyeth commentates for BT Sport and the BBC's Match Of The Day, Hugh Ferris is a presenter at BBC Sport, and Andy Hinchcliffe is a former England international (seven caps) who is now a pundit for Sky Sports. On each episode they discuss one footballing issue, while digesting a delicious lunch or brunch, and almost never reaching any sort of conclusion.
Episodes
July 27, 2022 • 119 mins
The football: It's our last show, live in London (slightly edited for content like movies on ITV in the 1990s, but still self-indulgently long). We're joined by Nedum Onuoha and an audience of well-wishers to send you off into a future without SPM. There are multiple middle class heckles, some essential beepings out of inappropriate words, and by the end even the odd something in the eye as we say goodbye after five and half years ...
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July 6, 2022 • 68 mins
***Nedum Onuoha will be our guest at the live show in London! He's joining us for our final episode on July 20th. Get your tickets here: https://myticket.co.uk/gigs/set-piece-menu-live-london-2021-12-16-19-00***
The football: With the emergence of European clubs and the nations a lot of their players serve, is the dominance of the US Women's National Team under threat, and what will Euro 2022 tell us about how next year's World Cu...
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June 29, 2022 • 61 mins
The football: At time of recording, three players key to Ajax's recent success had already left during this transfer window, with potentially at least another three heading out (maybe all to Manchester United) before it's over. Rory is annoyed about the financial and demographic realities that has led to another exodus, and wants to tell us why. Steven prepares a whole string orchestra's worth of tiny violins...
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June 22, 2022 • 62 mins
The football: Some Set Piece Menu nostalgia. You miss Andy Hinchcliffe, we do too. So in response to requests to revisit some of his stand out 'Soccer Story' moments, Hugh, Rory and Steven introduce a trip down memory lane. Whether it was crustaceans in the bath at Bellfield, Mrs Big Ron's platter of Kit-Kats or the injury that finally ended an entirely sufficient career, Chinch never failed us when a tale from his playing days wit...
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June 7, 2022 • 59 mins
The football: 2022 has brought about a notable conscious uncoupling. After 30 beautiful and productive years together the video game partnership between EA Sports and FIFA is ending. How did this happen, why does it matter and whose future looks brighter: the gaming behemoth or the owner of 'the brand'?
Plus, a not inconsiderable announcement that we think will make a ticket to SPM Live in London on 20th July even more valuable... ...
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June 1, 2022 • 51 mins
The football: Did Hugh say he'd written a book? Well just in case you missed it, he takes the opportunity of Rory and Steven being distracted by a combination of covid and foreign travel (not both at the same time) to chat with the subject of said book. Nedum Onuoha is a former Manchester City, QPR and Real Salt Lake footballer with a tale to tell about his career and those with whom he shared it, but Kicking Back is about so much ...
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May 25, 2022 • 61 mins
Our hiatus-interrupting continues with another new pod, and another reminder to join us for a special SPM LIVE in London on Wednesday 20th July.
Get your tickets here: https://myticket.co.uk/gigs/set-piece-menu-live-london-2021-12-16-19-00
The football: The end of the Premier League season brings a comforting inevitability, the Hot Takes and Takeaways episode. We also reveal the standings and stats behind the soaringly successful...
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May 18, 2022 • 63 mins
We're breaking into our hiatus to do two things: 1) be with you for a run of mini-pods to mark the end of the Premier League season and more, and 2) for naked financial gain.
The football: It's more than a year since the European Super League came and very quickly went, but it seems all the decisions made by the powers that be since are benefiting those who wanted the ESL in the first place, rather than satisfying the movement tha...
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March 10, 2022 • 34 mins
SPM returns from hiatus to consider how the sanctions placed on Roman Abramovich will affect Chelsea, the Premier League, and football's billionaire bubble.
We will now politely return to our mini-hibernation, but in the meanwhile if you'd like to send an email, setpiecemenu@gmail.com is permanently open for business.
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January 26, 2022 • 43 mins
The football: March 2020 was football's hiatus, January 2022 is ours. With changes afoot in the SPM family, and a relaunch expected later in the year, we thought we'd give you all a bit of a break. Consider it an extended deadline if you haven't yet listened to all the episodes, a cheat code for your homework. We will return, and if you have any strong opinions about how we look when we do (that we can either ignore or take as our ...
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January 19, 2022 • 44 mins
The football: Is Serie A the most exciting league in football right now? And if so, does that mean it has at last shaken off its stereotype - one that hasn't been true on the pitch for a long while now - of dull, defensive football?
The food: A gingerbread biscuit that Rory couldn't wait until the pod to eat. It was the shape of a bee, which leads the others to suggest he's hankering for his old home of Manchester.
Email: setpie...
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January 12, 2022 • 57 mins
The football: As the latest Africa Cup of Nations begins to unfortunate characterisations and complaints about scheduling and availability, we ask if those questioning the relevance of competitions that clash with the Premier League and others in Western Europe are guilty of a little too much navel-gazing.
The food: Rory's dog Hector has eaten something, and it has made him ill. Is chicken two days past its sell-date the culprit, ...
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January 5, 2022 • 61 mins
The football: The Premier League likes attracting the best managerial talent, but what if that talent wants to change the Premier League? Thomas Tuchel, Pep Guardiola, Ralf Rangnick and Jurgen Klopp have all spoken about their opposition to how the festive schedule is unduly punitive on their players, but if they wanted the job in England shouldn't they just accept that's how it's done? Or can we, your humble SPMers, find a solutio...
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December 29, 2021 • 48 mins
The football: Part two of our Set Piece Menu Review of the Year allows us to skew negative, and yet it's a shorter episode. Go figure...
The food: Having recorded the pod pre-Christmas, we undertake what has become an annual guessing game about what we ate on the big day, and how much we "enjoyed" it.
Email: setpiecemenu@gmail.com
Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/en-gb/stores/set-piece-menu-podcast
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December 22, 2021 • 61 mins
The football: We're getting festively reflective as we bring you our Set Piece Menu Review of the Year, which is in no way attempting to sound or feel like another annual retrospective (the one which Rory gets uppity about). We've split it up into two parts, and because it's Christmas, part one prompts us to be nice about things.
The food: Hugh is desperate to spread the word about Knopper chocolate bars. If you're near an Aldi, s...
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December 15, 2021 • 54 mins
The football: What's the difference between watching a game on TV and being at the stadium itself? A listener poses the question, and we try not to sound too snobby in our response.
The food: Steven is eating a clementine, which prompts Rory to reveal he and his family are lessening their food footprint, which means no more bananas.
Email: setpiecemenu@gmail.com
Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/en-gb/stores/set-piece-menu-podcast
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December 8, 2021 • 56 mins
The football: A listener who's relatively new to football wants us to put a little meat on the bones he regularly hears in the coverage of football about 'style', 'identity' and 'philosophy'. What does it all actually mean?
The food: Rory has discovered potato latkes and is immediately devastated that it took him this long.
The announcement: For reasons explained on the pod, we are having to postpone our live show in London. Plea...
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December 1, 2021 • 50 mins
The football: After Paul Merson wondered whether Ralf Rangnick's lack of experience in English football might make him an inappropriate appointment by Manchester United, we ask if English football has an identity problem. In other words it doesn't really have one, and that's why there's no reason for Rangnick to have experienced it...
The food: Steven has a hangover so severe he can't even eat the pain au raisin he bought from Eus...
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November 24, 2021 • 60 mins
The football: In the unforeseen absence of two of our number, we fill their places with people who actually know what they're talking about. Peter Drury and Conor McNamara are some of the finest exponents of the art of commentary, and there's also Steven; together we have a conversation about what people don't realise about the life and craft of the person you might listen to a lot, but not know a lot about.
The food: Hugh is stru...
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November 17, 2021 • 62 mins
The football: The qualification campaign for the 2022 World Cup may well end up delivering familiar countries to the finals, but in getting there has it shown us that international football might have more of something than the best of the club game: jeopardy?
The food: Steven has stolen four Viennese Whirls from his partner Katie. Rory, a great lover of biscuits, reveals he's never even had a Viennese Whirl.
LIVE SHOW TICKETS: H...
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