We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2023
I’m not sure the movie-world is ready for another superhero, but if Disney ever do buy my idea of “Accountoman” – the caped crusader of footballing justice – then only Kieran Maguire would be suitable for the role. Bam! Another club owner is whacked in the intangible assets. Pow! No one truncates accounts on my watch! The irony being, of course, that Disney would run a mile from the actual Kieran Maguire because they are definitely not ready for their first R18-rated film.
Late in 2019, producer Guy Kilty contacted me about a podcast he was planning, to cover the murky world of football finance. I wished him well and said it sounded fascinating (as well as a comedian, writer and author, I am also quite a good liar). It turns out that Guy, knowing that I was a hopeless romantic about football and a total idiot about finances, thought I would be the ideal person to host the podcast alongside football finance expert Kieran Maguire. I would become the slightly dim sidekick accompanying our hero as we took on the villains of the beautiful game, a sort of Batman and Robin against Vatman and Robbing.
And so began my relationship with the author of this book. A relationship that has turned into a close friendship, with a podcast that is already well on the way to its twomillionth download. The close friendship bit is all the more remarkable considering that much of our work has been conducted remotely because of the Covid-19 pandemic and considering which bloody football team the rascal supports.
Kieran and Guy took the sensible decision not to tell me he was a Brighton fan until after we had recorded four episodes, by which time I was obviously hurt and disappointed but had already sussed that Kieran was on the side of the angels and knew, that as a Crystal Palace fan, I held the moral high ground. I decided I would rise above the issue, and, at the same time, mention Kieran's betrayal at every opportunity on the pod. He's from South London, for God's sake! It would have been better if he supported Millwall – at least they’re his local team!
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
