
Football Cliches
Deconstructing the gloriously unique language of football – the words, the phrases and the tiny things you didn't think you cared about – with Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare & David Walker.Visit nordvpn.com/cliches to get four extra months on a two-year plan with NordVPN
Latest episodes

Jul 8, 2024 • 40min
The Adjudication Panel: Euro 2024's future Premier League forgettables & the Jordan Pickford penalty-heroics threshold
Adam Hurrey is joined by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker for the latest Euro 2024 Adjudication Panel. The agenda includes: an unexpected footballer's name pops up in the General Election polls, a radio commentator synchronising effortlessly with the crowd noise, a potential new twist in "penalties are a lottery" discourse, a cultural review of England's penalty shootout against Switzerland, whether Spain's last-minute win over Germany counts as a "dispatching" and the relative merits of displaying the clock in extra time as 90:00-120:00 (ITV) or 00:00-30:00 (BBC).Meanwhile, the panel decide what sort of game best suits the "never in doubt [wink emoji]" sentiment and assess a list of mid-range Euro 2024 performers who seem destined for a forgettable Premier League future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jul 4, 2024 • 51min
The Adjudication Panel: Misstiano Penaldo, "The Misquoted One” & arm-wrestling with Martin Keown
Adam Hurrey is joined by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker for the latest Euro 2024 Adjudication Panel. The agenda includes: the Wimbledon tennis doing Wimbledon tennis things, a perfectly wrong football analogy on election day, the BBC's Cristiano Ronaldo penalty caption saga, how teams "make friends" at major tournaments, new Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler gets the Mourinho treatment on day one, the most "high street estate agents" footballer name,Meanwhile, the panel decide the specific scenario that best suits the observation of "good feet" and enjoy Every News At Ten Report of the Football Match You Watched Just Before News At Ten, Ever Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jul 1, 2024 • 41min
The Adjudication Panel: The England clamour table, bending your run & dancing on the streets of City X
Adam Hurrey is joined by David Walker and Nick Miller for the latest Euro 2024 Adjudication Panel. The agenda includes: which player is at the front of the England clamour queue now, Jude Bellingham's self-referential goal celebration, the joy of Ally McCoist reacting to slow-motion replays, which Euros nations' capital-city streets are most likely to be "danced on", the transferrable football skill of "bending your run" in daily life and some concerning news about Mexican waves.Meanwhile, the panel ponder the acceptability of the tournament-exit verb "grouped" and whether anything can be "vintage Lamine Yamal". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 27, 2024 • 40min
The Adjudication Panel: The unifying experience of watching England struggle to play football
Adam Hurrey is joined by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker for the latest Euro 2024 Adjudication Panel. The agenda includes: the Stockholm syndrome of England at their laborious worst, Sir Geoff Hurst's silky-smooth product placement on Sky Sports News, one man's fantasy European competition for second-division clubs, and Keysey's inevitable mid-tournament solution for the Three Lions.Meanwhile, the panel explore the meaning of the physical footballing state of being "leggy", with some help from Clive Tyldesley and Martin O'Neill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 24, 2024 • 39min
The Adjudication Panel: Martin Keown's GCSEs, Pro Evo Jules Kounde & when nations hold their breath
Adam Hurrey is joined by David Walker and Ali Maxwell for the latest Euro 2024 Adjudication Panel. The agenda includes: the depths of Euros short-form video content, a curious commentator intonation for a full-back receiving a pass in their own half, a dramatic VAR development in Major League Soccer, why some England managers get referred to by their first names and Messi/Ronaldo sentiment reaching the world of transfer reporting.Meanwhile, the panel also explore the nuanced rules of demonymic footballing adjectives and the mid-tournament trigger point for a nation being described as "holding its breath". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 21, 2024 • 49min
The Adjudication Panel: The vocabulary of an England group-stage draw & Euro 2024’s Commentator’s Curse
Adam Hurrey is joined by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker for the latest Adjudication Panel of Euro 2024. The agenda includes: the inevitable keywords of the latest England group-stage non-event, some eerily good Euros predictions from the pod back in December, the rampant Commentator’s Curse of Euro 2024, whether Arda Guler’s wondergoal met the “a star is born” threshold, some classic Andy Townsend punditry, a Dutch take on football clichés discourse, the textbook host-nation scenario and a surprise guest on a YouTube watchalong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 17, 2024 • 43min
The Adjudication Panel: The Euros that didn't need to burst into life
Adam Hurrey is joined by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker for the first Adjudication Panel of Euro 2024. The agenda includes: the (very predictable) reaction to England's laborious win over Serbia, Gabriel Clarke (sort of) gives his update on the mood in the Cliches podcast camp, which country are "the most Group C team ever", what makes a shot go "agonisingly wide" and more niche highlights from the Euros so far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 13, 2024 • 1h 3min
The Pure European Championship XI
On the eve of Euro 2024, Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker are joined by Michael Cox to select a lineup of players most inextricably linked with the European Championship.The deliberations feature a strict Greeks and Czechs quota, the "Kopke vs Toldo" dilemma, a Silver Goal scorer in the heart of the defence, a dinker, a scooper and a disgraced former UEFA president in midfield, a clamour for Alan Dzagoev, a frankly inevitable bias towards Euro 2004, Will Grigg on fire (and on the bench) and a battle of the one-hit wonders up front. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 10, 2024 • 51min
The Adjudication Panel: 1.4 billion years of hurt, Grealish's mayo hell & the opening-game formula
Adam Hurrey is joined by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker for the Adjudication Panel. The agenda includes: an alternative methodology for calculating England's "years of hurt", the latest a team can take the lead "inside X minutes", the scourge of midfielders being included among the "forwards" in international squad graphics, the obligatory Euro 2024 "dark horses" debate, the Jack Grealish/Hellmann's mayonnaise Euros marketing calamity and obscure Arsenal figures namechecked in video gamesMeanwhile, the panel weigh up the merits of Germany vs Scotland as an opening game and field some important listener questions on hailing, left pegs and players who can "slot in". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jun 5, 2024 • 53min
Capos, club mentalities & calculating England's actual years of hurt: The listeners' loves & hates
Adam Hurrey, David Walker and Nick Miller entertain this month's listener entries for Mesut Haaland Dicks, as the Clichés faithful nominate their niche footballing fascinations and irritations.Among the selections are the "capo" (the one who conducts the Ultras chants with his back to the game), the joy of just kicking a football right up into the air as high as possible, clubs who have a generation-spanning “mentality” attributed to them, the horrifying split-second when the ball is passed out of frame during a TV game and - once and for all - just how many “years of hurt” it has technically been for England.Meanwhile, the Adjudication Panel reflect on yet another skincrawling moment for footballspeak in the political sphere and pick apart the mandatory pre-tournament custom of team-by-team guides. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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