An Aston Villa podcast set up by two wise-cracking Irishmen is receiving glowing praise following a viral clip from the show about Man City manager Pep Guardiola went viral this week.
The Villa podcast, started by brothers Liam and Conan Doherty in 2020 has steadily built up a cult following after leaving its listeners’ sides splitting with their pithy match reviews and off-the-wall analogies but what’s most surprising is how revered it is by fans of other Premier League clubs.
"Pep Guardiola is coming out to bat for Man City because he knows his legacy is in question here."
— The Villa Podcast (@TheVillaPodcast) February 14, 2023
And before anyone praises his stint at Bayern… listen to this
https://t.co/q5QysYTNdN#AVFC #UTV #VTID #MCFC pic.twitter.com/LoswM7B94S
And this was clear to see online following praise of the clip, which succinctly dismantles Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, accurately playing down his ‘achievements’ in the Bundesliga, a league where one team has won the title for the last 10 years consecutively and La Liga, where he had the greatest player of all time ‘running around scoring 73 goals’ but still couldn’t place ahead of ‘eye-gouger Mourinho’s Real Madrid’.
John Prescott @jp_lfc (a Liverpool fan) said in response to the clip:
‘If you’re not a Villa fan but need a new podcast this is the one. Nail on the head every time.’
Meanwhile, Jussi Heikkkinen (also a Liverpool fan) commented:
This is hilarious and so spot on! Not really interested about Villa at all, but I might just listen to an episode or two from these guys
In a podcast dripping with originality perhaps the only unoriginal thing about the podcast itself, is its name – ‘the Villa podcast’. But at the same time, the podcast is so good perhaps it does deserve to have a title so basic it implies it is the original and the best of all other Villa podcasts out there.
Among the regular features on the podcast are the ‘you let Glenn Whelan take a 90th minute penalty award’ which lambasts questionable managerial decisions akin to the one where Steve Bruce let Glenn Whelan take a 90th minute penalty that he subsequently missed, in what was his last game in charge as Villa manager.
For the neutral fan, their final segment, ‘questions we can’t answer but probably will’ never fails to amuse as Conan lets his brother Liam have the mic and go on some David Mitchell-esque rants about the latest going’s on in the Premier League and world football (his tirades usually featuring Harry Maguire, Pep Guardiola or the ineptitude of Gareth Southgate).
Head over to their Twitter account to listen to their best clips which they post regularly, or search for ‘the Villa podcast’ wherever you listen to your podcasts and subscribe to catch every episode they release (usually on the evening of a game, assuming Liam isn’t getting married that week).