Moment of Truth

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Sport: Football

Three months in the life of a manager. This podcast goes where others don't.

A raw, tense and illuminating deep dive into the real lives of football managers. Intimate and unfiltered, this podcast reinvents fly-on-the-wall to take you where cameras can't.

What does it take to be a football manager? We all think we can do it: pick a team to win a game, sign a couple of players who looked good on FIFA....I mean, we've all played Championship Manager right? The reality is very few people can ever truly master it, can deal with the torment, the anguish, the pain of defeat or even the blessed relief of victory. And what about putting their families and friends in the firing line of fans, the media and everyone else who has an opinion on how you do your job?

For the last three months of the 2021/22 League One season, this podcast had unparalleled access to the life of a football manager as two teams battled to change their collective stories forever and win promotion to the Championship. From the dressing room to the training ground, the team bus to the technical area, Rotherham's Paul Warne and Oxford's Karl Robinson have worn microphones to record every single critical moment of the job during the tense and eventful run-in.

You'll get to eavesdrop on how the personal reality of football management is a constant gnaw of sleepless nights, skipping meals and missing out on family life. You'll hear how the wives and children have to tiptoe around their disillusioned husbands following losses and you'll listen in to how they rarely enjoy those hard-fought victories.

Narrated by Jimmy Nesbitt, Moment of Truth is an audio experience unlike any other that will give you an answer as to what it takes to manage a professional football club. This podcast is a love letter to our greatest game spread across 15 episodes. It's a rollercoaster ride through the footballing cauldron of League One where you get to sit on the bench of both teams as they battle to reach their Moment of Truth.

Moment of Truth: 7. Sunderland Or We Die

7. Sunderland Or We Die

BBC Radio 5 Live - Moment of Truth, 7. Sunderland Or We Die

Oxford boss Karl wades through broken bodies and tired minds to keep the season alive.

For Oxford United, the Sunderland showdown looms large. The season hinges on these games. Boss Karl knows what’s at stake. It’s 1-1 with seconds to go. What follows is agony.

After two straight defeats at the business end of the season it feels like a do-or-die game for Oxford at home to Sunderland. The build-up to the match begins at the training ground, where groundsman/comedian Toby Rouss gives the lowdown on the mood around the club, how the players are bearing up, and then chatting with Karl about the Grand National, where his dad is a co-owner of the favourite. And while the season is very much alive, thoughts are already turning to the next campaign, and the need to organise some pre-season fixtures.

We sit on a meeting with the manager, the head of sport sciences Harry Routledge, and the director of performance Chris Neville, who for many years planned England’s World Cup and Euros campaigns. It’s an intricate jigsaw puzzle of fitness loading and game time, with Karl calling respective managers around the league – but none in League 1 – to arrange friendlies. Then, as the gloaming settles around the training ground, the manager’s thoughts turn back to Sunderland and how his team will have to experience “some dark places within them white lines” if they’re to keep their hopes of promotion alive. Onto game day and we’re with the physios as they try to get battered bodies ready for battle, including a hot stone massage for midfielder Herbie Kane and his sore back.

Then we’re with the manager in his office as he opens his mail and discusses the death threats he regularly receives as his staff watch the end of the lunchtime fixture in the Premier League. Thoughts turn to the Sunderland showdown. “If you get beat it can last for days,” says Karl, of the pain of defeat. “So it’s worth going to war for.”

With minutes to go before kick-off Herbie’s back goes again and there’s panic and more vigorous massage before Robinson sends his team out - with Kane – to face the Black Cats. With minutes to go it’s 1-1. Oxford have dominated. A point is probably a good result given the fact that all the teams around them, including Rotherham, have either lost or drawn, when suddenly the Mackems break away in the 89th minute to grab a winner.

There’s desolation in the dressing room. Robinson has to pick himself up as well as his team. “Trust in your talent and trust in each other,” he says, in an effort to reassure his team that no matter what, they’re not out of it. He finishes by saying what a dark night it will be for him.

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