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 274: Is the landscape of the women's game shifting?

Jul 6th, 2022 1h 8m

***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 emergenc

SPM 273: The Ajax Exodus

Jun 29th, 2022 1h 1m

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

SPM 271: EA v FIFA (plus a BIG announcement)

Jun 7th, 2022 59m 24s

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 look

SPM 270: Nedum Onuoha

Jun 1st, 2022 51m 47s

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 s

SPM 269: The 6th Annual Hot Takes and Takeaways

May 25th, 2022 1h 1m

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-2021-12-16-19-00Th

SPM BONUS: The End Of The Oligarch Era

Mar 10th, 2022 34m 49s

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 li

SPM 267: Au Revoir

Jan 26th, 2022 43m 36s

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'

SPM 266: Serie A

Jan 19th, 2022 44m 58s

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:

SPM 265: Is Football Too Eurocentric?

Jan 12th, 2022 57m 43s

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

SPM 264: The Christmas Schedule Conundrum

Jan 5th, 2022 1h 1m

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

SPM 263: SPMROTY (Part 2)

Dec 29th, 2021 48m 51s

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 abou

SPM 262: SPMROTY (Part 1)

Dec 22nd, 2021 1h 1m

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 i

SPM 261: Being At The Game vs Watching The Game

Dec 15th, 2021 54m 39s

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 t

SPM 260: What Is Style?

Dec 8th, 2021 56m 13s

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

SPM 259: Is English football as special as it thinks it is?

Dec 1st, 2021 50m 47s

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 does

SPM 258: What YOU Don't Realise About Commentators...

Nov 24th, 2021 1h

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 a

SPM 257: Is international football more exciting than we thought?

Nov 17th, 2021 1h 2m

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

SPM 250: Live at the National Football Museum

Nov 10th, 2021 1h 22m

The football: In front of a live audience at Manchester's National Football Museum, we discuss whether football does a good job of curating its own history. Also includes extras!The food: The live show offers the four of us our first opportun

SPM 256: Complacency

Nov 3rd, 2021 1h 10m

The football: Is complacency football's greatest leveller? All the talk of complacency from those on the pitch is about how to avoid it, but are those in the boardroom falling prey to it all too often? The food: As we ask you for ideas of wha

SPM 255: Loans, lower league partnerships, or leave the kids alone!

Oct 27th, 2021 58m 10s

The football: After the last round of the EFL Cup (yes we were organised enough to make a plan then and save it for this week's round) Pep Guardiola talked of his young Manchester City bucks benefiting more from playing Wycombe every week than

SPM 254: Do you have to be a football fan to be a football player?

Oct 20th, 2021 57m 31s

The football: After Benjamin White revealed he'd never watched a football game that he wasn't a part of himself, we ask Chinch how a player's relationship with the game can run so counter to what many of us assume, and what many more expect.T

SPM 253: Are we celebrating the wrong things in football?

Oct 13th, 2021 1h 17m

The football: Following the Saudi (sorry, PIF) takeover of Newcastle (see SPM175 for more) we talk about how money, and the availability of wealth regardless of its origin, is celebrated more than anything else. Why do we hold financial might i

SPM 252: Playbooks

Oct 6th, 2021 1h 21m

The football: After Julian Nagelsmann talked about football potentially introducing an NFL-style playbook we ask if that's completely preposterous, or if in fact we're already headed in that direction. Plus Hugh gets very defensive about how to

SPM 251: Soccer Pod Potpourri 2

Sep 29th, 2021 44m 58s

The football: For availability, and as it turns out, expediency reasons (Rory's dad is about to have lunch, and we're not allowed to be in the way) we bring you a second edition of what proved to be a hugely popular (you'll have to trust us on