Sacked in the Morning

We're back for Series 3! Amy Irons and Craig Levein drop in to tell you about a very special first episode of the new series which we recorded LIVE at the Edinburgh Festival plus Amy quizzes Craig on an old football magazine's Q and A. Can he remember who his favourite actor was in 1986?

To finish the series Craig answers your questions including - Do coaches encourage diving? What happens when players don't get on? & what is the worst game he's been involved in? Not only that but we hear all about what he did to get a 14 match ban and what it's like to hear the crowd singing "You don't know what you're doing!"

Just how did Bobby Gould mastermind the greatest FA Cup Final shock of all time? "The Gouldfather" takes us on a trip back to 1988 as Wimbledon battle the mighty Liverpool at Wembley. In a fantastic interview he recounts the characters of the Crazy Gang, how the Wimbledon chairman invented "bush tucker trials" decades before Ant & Dec and we hear how Bobby even bribed someone in an attempt to get every advantage possible.

Former Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy is a Manchester United legend, he was the last player to be signed by Sir Matt Busby and went on to rack up over 400 appearances for the Old Trafford club. Sammy joins Craig and Amy to talk about those that impacted his career the most from the promise George Best made ahead of his debut to how it all ended under Ron Atkinson. Along the way we hear about the time Tommy Docherty picked himself for a match, the unique item that Big Ron had in his dressing room and whether the Northern Ireland job came too soon.

You are minutes away from the opening game of the 1998 World Cup, you are about to send a team out to face the mighty Brazil and everyone expects you to get hammered...what do you say to cut the atmosphere and calm the boys nerves? Legendary Scotland boss Craig Brown joins Amy Irons and Craig Levein to reveal just how he had his players laughing as they got ready to line up against the World Champions. Craig also tells the tale about how he sent home a very young Duncan Ferguson for breaking rules, how a misunderstanding led to both Ally McCoist and Alan McInally thinking they were starting a game at the World Cup and how a very wily Craig stopped his players flirting on a plane to America.

Former Preston North End, Leeds United and Sunderland gaffer Simon Grayson joins Craig and Amy to discuss how you go about getting a job as a football manager. He joins us fresh from a secret zoom job interview with a foreign club and reveals how it went, we hear how it's not uncommon to be offered a job when there is still a manager in the hot seat and what happened when as a player coach at Blackpool he went to the chairman to resign. All that plus we get the inside scoop on the Sunderland documentary plus just what Billy Bremner was like as a boss.

Michael O'Neill is one of Northern Ireland's best ever managers - so how do you follow that up? Current Northern Ireland Men's Head Coach Ian Baraclough joins Craig and Amy to discuss just that plus Craig reveals the lengths they would go to to discover if a player had a Scottish granny. Ian reveals that the international door isn't closed for one Northern Ireland striker and we hear the tale of Notts County defender Gary Strodder and his pre-match ritual!

In his football career Jim Duffy has worked with some of football's best known and sometimes notorious owners and directors. From Delia Smith to Milan Mandaric and Vladimir Romanov to the Devils Advocate himself Giovanni Di Stefano. Jim joins Amy and Craig to shed some light on how best to manage up and in the process recounts some incredible stories including the owner who signed a goalie despite being told by the management they didn't want him, the owner who decided a "shaman" would decide when players should be substituted and the director who thought he could bring Edgar Davids from Juventus to Dundee!

Unfortunately due to illness we have had to take a slight pause in recording new episodes but Amy Irons is here to fill the void until we're back with some previously unheard clips including - Dick Campbell on performance analysts, Tony Pulis on Gerry Taggart, Mixu Paatelainen on Jim McLean, Ian Holloway on advice for new coaches, Harry Redknapp on why his camera kept turning off during our recording and Craig Levein tells us his very creative punishment he dished out on two young players he caught breaking the rules.

What's the pressure like when the fans, the media and the whole country expect you to win? Sven-Göran Eriksson, the man who believes he should have delivered the World Cup for England, joins Craig and Amy to discuss expectations. As a manager who had won titles across three countries, plus 10 domestic cup competitions and three European trophies, was he expected to succeed wherever he went? When he took the England job did the FA tell him he had to win the World Cup? And as manager of England's "Golden Generation" what are his regrets? All that plus we hear stories of David Beckham signing for Real Madrid and Sven's attempts to take him to Leicester City, we hear stories of 7am angry phone calls from Sir Alex Ferguson, plus who was the Queen's favourite England player and why?

QPR boss Mark Warburton has managed in the West London, East Midland and Glasgow derbies. All big matches but he claims nothing compares to the intense rivalry of Rangers V Celtic so who better to help us answer the question - Should you approach derby games any differently than other fixtures? Craig shares his experiences of managing the Edinburgh Derby between Hearts and Hibs, Mark talks us through his first ever Old Firm - a Scottish Cup Semi-Final at Hampden no less and he explains the difficulty he had with the media during his time in Glasgow. Mark and Craig also discuss whether the Old Firm should move to the English leagues, comparisons between Mark's time as a city trader and in management and we hear the remarkable story of when Mark turned on the TV to discover he had resigned as Rangers manager.

Former New England Revolution gaffer and Liverpool, Blackburn and Tottenham Hotspur legend Brad Friedel joins Craig and Amy to talk about bringing the standards he had in the Premier League to Major League Soccer. From poor diets to those above having spies in the camp Brad reveals how he was up against it in his first management job in the MLS. Craig explains why he thinks there are not a lot of goalies who make the move from between the posts to the dugout and we hear which club arranged a secret rendezvous to try and prize Craig away from Hearts during his time as a player.

We've been stopped in the street, messaged on social media and emailed and finally we can answer the question you have all been asking...Sacked in the Morning is finally coming back for a new series! Craig and Amy share their excitement in this quick bonus episode, Amy reveals how in this series we're going to need YOUR help plus she has a little game of "Would you Rather" with Craig.

Joining Craig Levein to help share favourite stories is Arbroath gaffer Dick Campbell. No one theme in this episode as Amy picks words from a tombola to help stir the memories of our two managers - hear about the time Dick's wife joined him at a game, the time Craig walked into what he thought was HIS hotel room in Cyprus and Dick explains why players need to be H.A.P.P.Y.

Former Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United and Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce joins Craig and Amy to discuss festive football. Can you trust players on Christmas nights out, should you train on Christmas day? and who once dressed as a bumble bee for a night out? Sam reveals the joy years ago in getting a turkey as a festive bonus plus he reveals the player who went awol one Christmas so he could visit his family and Craig recounts the tale when he was so desperate for a Xmas night out he ignored his managers orders

Just what do Assistant Managers do? Jimmy Nicholl is the current Northern Ireland assistant manager and has been second in command across a variety of clubs including Rangers, Dunfermline and Aberdeen...not only that, as a manager in his own right, he once took little Raith Rovers on a European adventure that would see them taking on (and surprising) the mighty Bayern Munich. In this episode Craig explains what he expects his assistants to bring to the job, Jimmy remembers the fear he had of the assistant manager at Manchester United when he was a 16 year old and he takes us back to the Olympic Stadium in Munich and what happened at half time

What makes a manager want to go and coach in the most militarised zone in the world? Craig and Amy are joined by former Rangers, Aberdeen and Leeds United player David Robertson about managing Real Kashmir. Davie describes winter training Kashmir style, his struggles to sign players and just what happens when your owner forgets to book a bus to training. Plus Craig recounts his experiences of managing players from different cultures and one particular story about how a former manager dealt with a player who couldn't understand English.

Phil Brown has managed in every league in England which means unfortunately he has been sacked from every league in England. The former Hull City* gaffer joins Craig and Amy to share his experiences of getting the chop. What's it like getting sacked? Do you know that it's coming? and can you change the chairman's mind? Craig reveals what was said when he got the boot from Leicester, Phil tells us that he never believed he'd get the sack - and how quickly that belief was challenged and Amy shares her experiences of a manager 'bringing the job home'. *we also ask about THAT team talk :-D

Captain Blood himself - former Motherwell, Inverness Caley Thistle and Hibernian manager plus former England Captain Terry Butcher joins Craig and Amy to discuss just what is needed to be a great leader on the pitch. The two former managers discuss the qualities you are looking for when picking a captain, Craig reveals why perhaps he only managed to captain the Scottish national side just the once and Terry talks about the honour when Sir Bobby Robson asked him to captain England at the World Cup in Italy in 1990.

Mixu Paatelainen and Craig Levein's management careers have a few parallels. Both started at Cowdenbeath FC, both managed Dundee United and both have managed their countries. So Mixu joined Craig and Amy back where it started, in the board room at Central Park, Cowdenbeath to take a look at the life of an international manager. We find out what a manager gets up to in between international fixtures, Mixu recalls the time he led Finland against the World Champions and Craig talks about the time a player pulled out of his squad because he claimed he was fatigued...and how Craig knew that wasn't true!

He led Wycombe Wanderers to a League Cup Semi Final against Chelsea and took Norwich City from League Two to 10th in the Premier League and we bet that he bawled and shouted at a fair few referees along the way. Paul Lambert joins Craig Levein and Amy Irons to take a look at the men in the middle. Do managers have any sympathy for the officials? Have they ever apologised for getting it wrong? Paul reveals what happened when he ran into the referees room to complain about an assistant ref, only to see him sitting in the corner, Craig tells us about the time he refused to pay a fine for criticising the official and Amy ponders whether it's worse being the 4th Official rather than the man in charge.

Over 1500 matches in the dugout and 34years in the game Arbroath manager Dick Campbell has been there and done it. Currently the manager of the highest placed part-time team in Scotland he has worked wonders on one of the smallest budgets imaginable. Craig and Amy explore with Dick what it's like to manage a team on a shoestring. Craig reveals what changed about Cowdenbeath in the years between him being there as a player and starting there as a manager, Dick shares the words of wisdom Sir Alex Ferguson gave him about management (and his eye-opening response) plus Amy "borrows" a game from BBC Radio 4 as we play "Desert Island Dick"

A man who has been in football management since 1983, former Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp joins Amy Irons and Craig Levein to dive into the murky world of football transfers. Harry reveals which player refused to play because he was given the number 16 and which free transfer remains to this day the best bit of transfer business he did. Recorded in Tynecastle Park, home of Heart of Midlothian, Craig reveals the prank played on him in the dressing room when he signed as a teenager and Amy plays 'Play your Transfer Window Cards Right' with Harry. Can he remember who cost more, Peter Crouch or Jermain Defoe?

The man who turned talking to the press into an art form, former Blackpool gaffer Ian Holloway joins Craig Levein and Amy Irons to discuss dealing with the media. Ian talks about the time when he invited a journalist into the dressing room to apologise to his defence, Craig reveals when a Scotland player leaked his team to the papers and Amy asks who said it, Ian Holloway or Ted Lasso.

The former Stoke City gaffer joins Craig Levein and Amy Irons to discuss what it takes to get the most out of a team of players. Including incredible stories about the time Ricardo Fuller left for a Jamaican international that didn't exist, with Stoke's biggest game of the season around the corner. Craig Levein reveals the time he tried to teach a player a lesson by locking him in a cupboard and we hear if managers ever intentionally set out to wind up their opposite number.

SACKED IN THE MORNING, YOU'RE GETTING SACKED IN THE MORNING What's it like to hear that sung? Craig Levein & Amy Irons lift the lid on the stresses & joys of football management.