Netflix's Adolescene has provoked coversation across all quarters in the UK.

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​The movies' best man was a machine 

​And who were the characters we’d see on TV and in film? Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator II may have been the most ripped man on the planet, but it was his programming, manifest as an indefatigable protector of John Connor which stood out. 

“The Terminator would never stop. It would never leave him. And it would never hurt him, never shout at him or get drunk and hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there. And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine was the only one who measured up”, says Sarah Connor.
​

Enter, Tate.

Of course, there’s an alternative. You can be our age and have made your name through legacy-media fame. Facing the fact that you’re no longer the baby face, you can turn heel and cash in on young people looking for answers. Andrew Tate is the archetype but he’s not alone. You can see this rage-bait streamer across all areas. It’s all about the same thing, getting the grift done because it’s easier than ‘honest’ work and it’s on your terms.
​
Tate’s particular brand of bile is extremely worrying. Puzzling Luton-cum-USA accent aside, he is a strong orator. What he says about women is abhorrent but it’s not what drives young, impressionable men to him.

​These are lost boys, looking at the world and knowing that everything they’ve been taught about how to be successful is ostensibly a lie. You can get good grades, go to university and go on to a graduate job. Except, the tap is being turned off. In constant downturns, the jobs are fewer, the prospects are worse, and woe betide anyone wanting to pursue a career in a creative industry. If the arts cuts don’t get you, AI will.
​
In the past these young men would have learned a trade and had the steady, reliable and increasingly financially rewarding job that a country with severe skills-shortages would bring. But our systems have not shifted. Even post-Brexit, little has been done to recalibrate our society to help our youngsters grow up to stand on their own two feet.

​In step Tate and his influence on the ‘manosphere’. To be a man is to be successful and to be successful you must be rich. How do you get rich? Pay for my course and I’ll show you. It is twisting a generation. Tate isn’t the only grifter but he’s a lightning rod because he’s so visible and so vile. His arguments are not going away, unless the rest of us stand up.

Since you’ve humoured me with my Terminator example, let me give you one more. WWE is often a hyper-reflection of our society. So, it’s unsurprising that even the archetypal good guy that is John Cena has had a volte-face and sold out for a title shot. After two decades as sports-entertainment's superhero, he turned villan for one final tilt at success. It’s caused a visceral reaction in the stadiums; he is booed with every word. 

​Railing against rage

So, where is our real-life railing against those who are toxifying our young men? Even our leaders are not able to keep their word. All this talk of ‘go and watch Adolescence’. Ok, then what?

Who is showing our young men that success doesn’t mean renting a Ferrari and posting it on Instagram? That ‘getting girls’ isn’t about being rich or being a hyper-misogynist.

Gareth Southgate started a conversation that the rest of us need to pick up and carry on.

How do we show them that getting ripped on your own in the gym and posting selfies is far less rewarding than getting fit playing sport with your mates?

How can we show a generation with prospects that take a hit with every tariff announcement that there is hope?

How do we provide that hope and stability in a world of uncertainty?

I don’t have the answers, but it starts with those of us who can, showing what it truly means to be a man. Showing that sticking to your beliefs, being honest and being dependable make you richer than any amount of cash can ever do.

​Selling out is easy. Let’s get working on how we can show our young men a better way.

The ex-Millwall man has had a career punctuated with loan spells but as he approaches his first year at Edgeley Park, he showed the home fans his quality in front of goal with an eleventh of the season in only 16 League Two outings.

​County were rarely troubled in the first 45. Nigel Adkins remains in interim charge of Rovers after Ian Dawes’ departure and with the club second-bottom with no wins away from Prenton Park all season, it’s a tough task ahead for whoever takes charge.

Their task was made even tougher with ill-considered challenge of Harvey Saunders barely three minutes after the restart. A high challenge connected solely with Macauley Southam-Hales and a second yellow ensued.

Their second came soon after the dismissal, player of the match Antoni Sarcevic latched onto a well-worked counter to gallop through and slot beyond McGee to wrap up the points. Chances continued to follow, with a chaotic passage of play with the ball cannoning off the post, bar and then off the line, as County went through the gears.

At the other end, 35-year-old Ben Hinchliffe showed he was as sprightly as ever with two finger-tipped saves to deny a foothold for Rovers but it was his opposite number, McGee, who was by far the busier of the goalies.

Ten League Two wins in a row, eleven in all competitions leave this side in their own record books and now five clear at the top. The all-time record in the fourth tier is 12 victories in succession, from Luton Town in 2002, an accolade that is now in sight.

​It was a satisfied applause rather than a raucous reception of the full-time whistle. Winning is becoming habitual for this team. It is little wonder County scarves are being worn around the town, whatever the weather.

​It’s 11.39am on a Sunday, the heavy din of a man on a PA system accompanied by dance music fills the air and I'm standing in the middle of a road in south Manchester surrounded by professional cyclists at a start line. Behind the barriers are hundreds of people, craning to get a view of the sea of riders that are now swallowing me up. There’s an older gentleman who was in the distance, now very much in the foreground shouting 'out!' at me whilst my newfound partner in crime is asking an Olympian for a selfie. It’s all happening, all at once and there’s no turning back. Welcome to the Tour of Britain!

Why cycling? And why is it perfect for a sports journalist?

My bread and butter is football. F1 was my first love and I’ll get swept up in all the cricket, athletics, and tennis if I get the chance. I was there when Bradley Wiggins followed up his Tour de France success with Olympic Time Trial gold in 2012. I was there too as Chris Froome took on Alberto Contador up Sheffield’s unforgiving Jenkin Road (Côte de Jenkin Road as it had been renamed) when Le Tour started in the UK in 2014. But alas, I’m a lapsed fan. Lance Armstrong’s revelations with Oprah​ a year earlier had got the ball rolling and Team Sky’s chokehold on the sport did the rest.

​Enter Netflix and a new generation of riders getting exposure to a new set of fans with Tour de France: Unchained – from the makers of F1 series Drive to Survive – and it’s got me back in the saddle.
Where could these new fans go for their fix? And who could take them along for the ride? That’s when the ‘On Yer Bike’ podcast was born. In Harriet Muckle I got in a newbie, Katy Madgwick an expert and Red Walters a pro rider, each with their own perspective, leaving no-one behind.
Katy was with us remotely, Red checked in whilst competing in Europe and me and Harriet travelled across the country following every stage – bar one in Harriet’s case - and me at all of them from Goole to Felixstowe.

​​

So why is cycling potentially a brilliant sport to cover?

​​Access: You’re encouraged to talk to athletes!
​
The refined air of the Premier League permeates throughout football. Talking even to a fourth division manager or player can be tricky. Getting the right accreditation at the cricket can feel like you’re dealing with bouncers at your bonce and with F1, let’s not even go there!

Eddie Hearn was a guest on Test Match Special over the summer and was lamenting a lack of ‘characters’ in cricket. He talked about how that side of the sport is what has made boxing, snooker, and darts so popular in the UK. Well, they exist in cycling that’s for sure. How could they not? To survive a cycling tour there’s an element of madness. How else can you justify all that pain and sacrifice to be there? And then there’s getting straight back in the saddle after an off, battered, bloodied, and bruised.

Back to that Mancunian start line and said Olympian snapped with Harriet was our great British cycling hope, the multi-discipline world champion Tom Pidcock. And how on Earth did we manage such a coup on out new podcast? His accompanying INEOS Grenadiers team media officer, Hannah, just came up to us and asked, “Would you like to talk to Tom?”. No huge email chain, briefing or media scrum to contend with. And there we were, talking to our biggest British superstar and he was as typically honest and straight talking as you’d expect for a man from Yorkshire. Only fellow Yorkshireman, football manager Neil Warnock, 50 years his senior has been so honest in their conversations with me with mic in hand.

Want to talk to pretty much any of the world’s top riders? Get to the mix zone at the rider sign-on and that can be arranged, or just turn up at their team bus/camper! Especially at the Tour of Britain, which as a smaller race is much more relaxed, so I’m told.

Access: In fact, anyone will talk to you!

Doing my best Martin Brundle impression on various start lines, I ended up getting into in depth conversations with the commissaires (race officials like the FIA in F1), organisers, team bosses, the Shimano guys who drive around with spare wheels and bikes – you name it, they were there and happy to talk. It was all quite surreal. Nobody blocking you off. No-one doing their best Cara Delevingne impression. Me and Harriet did a live broadcast on the start line in Tewkesbury and other than having to keep our blue media vests to hand, we were golden!

Gatekeepers and stepping in to the unknown

An Asian bloke in a bucket hat with a microphone and a woman who’s dressed ready to go on TV at a moment’s notice, walk into the cycling tent mix zone. We stand out. How was that experience? I was prepared for the worst but was pleasantly surprised.

Harriet had issues on day one convincing the young lads on the media desk that she was indeed on the list for parking; I had someone whose opening gambit like a rutting stag was, ‘How long have you been doing this?’; and there was one journo who complained our line of questioning with Wout van Aert was ‘drowning his copy’(?!) BUT… that was basically it. That was the extent of the gatekeeping we experienced over a week of ostensibly becoming cycling journalists.

​The Tour of Britain organisation were happy for us to be there, helped us when we needed a few things adjusting to get better access for audio recording and all in all went out of their way to accommodate us! How often can a journalist say that at a major sports event?
​
Add to that energy, enthusiasm and commitment of Harriet, the wealth of knowledge and patience from Katy as she guided us across the stages, and Red’s rider input whilst out competing and I think we managed to smash those gates wide open. And I haven’t even mentioned Dan Deakins and Anna McEwen, two cycling journalists and super-fans who also joined us along the way, jumping in with both feet in Felixstowe!

Is there any money in it?!

Ah, the million-dollar question. Well, in short, I believe so – but in testing economic times you’ve got to be creative, and we’re going to try and do that with On Yer Bike and see what happens! I’m convinced that as Netflix continues covering it, we’ll see new fans coming to the sport. The magnificent coverage from the Global Cycling Network and Eurosport mean for a modest annual outlay, you can follow pretty much any race across men’s and women’s categories. And there’s a huge number of fans on social media that love to talk cycling!!

 
By the final episode of our mini-series, we ended up in the commentary box in Caerphilly. Me and Harriet, over the course of a week, had gone from newbies to calling the action as it unfolded. It was only possible because the world of cycling – from riders and teams to officials and organisers, opened their doors to us and let us step into their world. It’s exactly what you want as a broadcaster and journalist wanting to take your listeners right into the heart of the action. What a ride and we ain’t stopping now!
​
Get On Yer Bike and join us!

Follow all of Katy's work here at WriteBikeRepeat.com

Countdown

14:54:58
14:54:59
14:55:00

There's a wooden box in front of me with buttons so big it looks like it's been designed for my 2-year-old son.

I press the giant gray square with the green triangle.

"LOCAL BBC RADIO! THIS IS QUAY HOUSE AT MEDIACITYUK SALFORD! SQUAD GOALS FOLLOWS NEXT ON THIS CIRCUIT!"

My heart is racing, and this is booming out across the studio and in my headphones seeping into my brain. And it's accompanied by the dizzying techno-beat of the BBC News theme tune. I have two minutes to compose myself.

It's Good Friday, 4th April 2021. A blue-muffed microphone dangles in front of me, arching out of a desk that looks like something out of Star Trek from my wheelie chair vantage-point. Beyond that sits my socially-distanced co-presenter - ex-footballer Joe Thompson. We've had Zooms, two pilots and now here we are.

I look at my notes. There's a LOT of paper. The stat packs and facts are strewn across the desk. Joe describes it like a scene out of 'A Beautiful Mind'. I've listened to five EFL podcasts on 1.4 speed, binge-watched last week's highlights, read virtually everything EFL-related on the BBC Sport website, The Athletic and The Football League Paper. And in front of me is the most jam-packed Google Doc you could ever imagine.

Silence. "LOCAL BBC RADIO! THIS IS QUAY HOUSE..."  The loop re-starts. One minute to go.

To my right is a laptop with Lucy Oliva on screen in what looks like a box room with white-washed walls and little to place a location. She's in 'London', somewhere, and across the socials, ready to feed in online reaction to the day's events.

Behind the glass is Liam Bradford, the architect of the whole operation. At some point during that interminable period of Zoom quizzes, daily briefings, and empty stadiums, he had the idea of a radio show that could be summed up as 'Soccer Saturday but on the radio'. Why had nobody thought of it sooner? That show on Sky for the last 30 years is essentially a radio show! And here we are, Squad Goals. It replaces a looped message about not having commentary rights online that has been otherwise been going out across local radio for years.

"30 SECONDS!"

Deep breathing. I'm aware that I'm not yet calm. And I need to be. Or at least, calm enough to press all the buttons in a moment. It's not just talking. On the B of the bang there's one button to press, mic fade up, say something coherent, fire another button, pull the first fader down, press the button to stop that track playing, let the bed kick in from the second track I've started, pull my fader back up. 'Shit, have I pulled the other faders up? Yes, well, I have now. Is my script at the right place? Yes it is. Breathe!'

"Ten, nine, eight..."

I get a voice in my right ear, "Howay lads, have a good'un." Our producer Andy Bell with a Tyneside twang helps me snap out of my moment. He has been our guiding light and will continue to be so for the next two years - with reminders on the technicals like going for a trail or pushing local radio but also helping us not get bogged down and if it's not going well, giving us the direct and actionable feedback.

"Six, five..." SILENCE.

, 
Finale

Let's fast forward 766 days. And at that exact same moment, it's time to start our final show.

We've said goodbye to Lucy and hello to Welsh wonder Gabriella Jukes this season. It's a triple-header for the EFL final day. Friday's League One carnage had Gabriella with us in the flesh but subbing in for League Two and The Championship is Josh Shreeve, on Zoom from somewhere in London, just like that first show.

And coming in for the brilliant ex-pro Calvin Andrew, who was with us for League Two, is Dan Ogunshakin. He's up from an early shift on the ground floor, helping produce the sport for BBC Breakfast. If I thought we were tired... he's been up since 4am.

These days, there is no intro script. I've been trying to do it in my head. It's all in there by now.
I fire the bed. "Good afternoon..." 'Oh ffs, come on Sanny. You've not faded yourself up! You're supposed to be putting in one final, faultless show and you've failed already. Wait no, this has happened before and it's fine, laugh it off.'

Dan is chuckling to himself. He knows that would have annoyed me. But only we know this, no-one listening does, and we've done enough shows now. Before I would have let those thoughts cascade but instead I pull up the fader. 1.5 seconds later than I should have done and we begin.

"Good afternoon, it's five to three, it's EFL time."
"I'm Joe and he's Sanny and this is Squad Goals!"

We've hit those timings well. If Joe doesn't come straight off me saying, 'EFL time', it sounds clunky. Andy once said you could park a Mondeo in the space we'd left. That blue Ford flashes up in my mind.

​And we're away. I wrap around our team with intros, fade out the High Flying Birds track that sounds like we're going to war and remind everyone that commentaries are on DAB, FM, Freeview and for some, Medium Wave. Oh, and don't forget we're on the BBC Sport website and App too! I always name-drop the journalists covering the EFL live page. On a day like today Ian Woodcock, Matt Newsum, Luke de Costa, and Adam Lanigan deserve a mention. The goals go in, it's brilliant, beautiful, beguiling chaos. Millwall are in the play-offs, then it's West Brom and finally Sunderland steal the show.

We get listeners getting in touch from all over the world. Andrew hiking in the Alps sharing the show with his son listening in Newcastle. Stephen shouting out loud as Gustavo Hamer gives Coventry the lead. He's on plane from Austin to Orlando! Tracey, on her honeymoon in Turkey messages throughout - she ended up dancing around a restaurant as Sunderland secure sixth spot. They've all made Josh's job look easy. Brilliant.

We go out on a high.

Our third voice has also been vital. The show wouldn't work without them. Lucy Oliva was just superb when she started. It took 45 minutes of the first pilot to change her role from off-air to on-air and the show never looked back. She was a hard act to follow but both Gabriella and Josh made it their own and in their own ways. It keeps the show moving really well.

In amongst all this is a Tuesday team too. It's been great tuning in to Henry Liston together with Natalie Pike, Calvin Andrew and Lucy Inman. It has a different vibe and fewer games. It helped me learn that there are different ways to do the same show and there are lots of bits I stole. The biggest one being remembering to have fun. 

I've found out a lot about myself too. How I work, why I do things the way I do. When you're constantly assessing your performance and on such a public platform, it really does hone in on your failings and strengths. How can you box smart to not expose those failings and what can you do to fix them? Does that even help you outside the studio too?

New Voices

​For me, Squad Goals is the absolute vindication of giving new voices a chance. There's no denying that radio and broadcasting has a diversity issue. Visual and socio-economic. The programme hasn't been a panacea, but it has shown that you can take underrepresented voices and with the right platform and guidance, they can produce something that speaks loudly and proudly to a diverging audience who have a pick n mix of choice for entertainment.

We've had so many new voices as our guests too. Diehards with passion, just needing a platform. And we've of course, taken a moment to highlight issues they may face in football. Like Aaron Diskin the Oldham fan who told us about going home and away as a powerchair user, or Hannah Kumari the Coventry supporter who's created a one-woman show on life as a female British Asian football fan in the 1990s. Like me, Charles Commins our Northampton Town fan thought his chance broadcasting had passed him by but he's one of our best voices. First and foremost however, all our contributors are there to share their love of football and shout out as soon as the ball hits the back of the net in their designated division.

And that's the thing isn't it? It's not about diversity for the sake of it. How many British Asian presenters are there presenting Saturday sport? How many ex-footballers from Joe's background have been given the mic outright, rather than sitting solely in the pundit's chair? How many football fans out there are just needing the smallest of pushes to share their story? Are they good enough? Well, there's only one way to find out.

And that's where our journey ends and a new one, for new voices can begin. Squad Goals has been the perfect place for me to learn how to be a better broadcaster and beyond. That radio desk no longer feels like the Starship Enterprise. It's time to let someone else boldly begin in that big chair.

It's June 2022 and I'm on our first full family holiday. Me, our 4-month-old, 3-year-old, and my wife... and I've abandoned them all. Well, only temporarily. I've got a Zoom with Refresh Sports which, due to me wanting to hit the ground running, I'm taking from our hotel balcony, whilst Katie keeps the kids happy.

It's a meeting that's been a long time coming, the fact I've scheduled it during my holiday probably sums up last year! A lot of saying yes, putting in the hours, gaining experience and learning... at the cost of seeing my family as much I should have. But perhaps things may change off the back of this chat...

Fast forward to May 2023 and I'm sitting on the ground floor of the University of Salford's MediaCityUK campus building signing up with Leon Mann and his Refresh Sports team, led on the 'talent' side of things by Lauren Ferdinand.

​It's been a completely bonkers few years since I re-trained and left teaching. And it's been challenging. I get a lot of messages from young journalists asking how I've got here and as I'll no doubt repeat on this blog a lot, it's through a combination of sheer luck, hard work, reflecting on my practice and luck again. It's also been through a lot of sacrifice. I think making Out of Our League worked out at about £1 an hour (a 10-part podcast series for BBC Sounds on Bury FC/AFC) and I missed seeing Byron a lot during that time. He was around 2 and would come into the bedroom to say goodnight, whilst I was on a Zoom with Mark Crossley with a shared screen of Adobe Audition. And that was every night for about 6 months during the pandemic. Going back to university to re-train and picking up shifts in local radio was a brilliant grounding but also left us struggling to stay afloat and that was still the case going into presenting BBC Squad Goals.

These are the sorts of issues that freelancers can regularly face. Or at least, the experience of it then feeds the fear of that situation arising again. And that’s partly the drive of the freelancer to say 'yes' to all the shifts going. You're constantly at the crease, batting away and either scoring runs or holding on until the light fades.

I've come into this with no connections in journalism. No friends or family that can hook me up with some work experience. And no direct line to any decision-makers at any football club, media organisation or newspaper. My childhood dreams of becoming a journalist had long-since faded. The only reason I'm here at all is through BBC Local Radio's New Voices search in 2019 and through gaining a fee grant from The Journalism Diversity Fund. That and luck, coincidence and just so happening to be in the right place at the right time. 

So here we are - how much longer can I go it alone? Well, basically until today. This is as far as I have taken things in three and a half years, going pretty much non-stop, mostly through necessity and also, through a desire to be better and roll the dice with this journalism malarkey and see what happens. And what a journey it's been! If it doesn't get any better than this then I can say I've had a good run.

At some point in this media world, you hit a ceiling. You get stuck. It's not just media though - I was at that point in teaching. And it can coincide with life getting in the way anyway. But it definitely exists in this industry. I think I probably have the bloody-mindedness and sheer force of will to break through eventually. The cost though, may be too great. The amount of energy to keep posting, emailing schedulers, meeting people, cold emails, waiting for a phone call that may never arrive... it actually takes away from you being a better broadcaster. It gobbles up your downtime and has stopped me being a better dad, a better husband and a better friend. Sports broadcasting can take a lot from you and to allow the hustle to take the last of you, is quite a difficult prospect. And after all that, you don't have all the answers either!

So, what if (keeping up that earlier cricket analogy) you had someone, at the other end of the wicket batting with you? Someone who's faced every type of ball coming, and can have a word in your ear whilst changing ends and give you just the right advice at the right time? What if (and I'm giving up that analogy now) you have someone in your corner who already has all those doors open that you're banging on and they already know who you may be the perfect person for, and can knock on doors you didn’t know exist? 

​That's my general rationale with getting an agent and I’m really excited about Refresh. Leon has been on a similar path to mine and did it at a time where hearts and minds were not as open as they are now. They are pushing and succeeding in doing things differently at a time where that's really needed. Having journalists and broadcasters that have a wider range of life experiences, outlooks and backgrounds helps the industry stay relevant. After all, it's broadcasting not narrowcasting. And having come through the JDF, it's something I care deeply about. The diversity imbalance in our newsrooms is something that needs redressing. And when you look at the Refresh roster, diversity is a part of that but the sheer talent and brilliance of all those signed up is what shines through and it’s quite unbelievable to be able to be put up anywhere near them. But enough of that…

I'm excited for what happens next and keep developing, working hard, having someone to bounce my ideas and pitches off and keep on this rollercoaster - with the added help of Refresh Sports. And if it means I can focus my energies on being a better broadcaster, a better father, and a better husband (not in that order!) then it can only lead to better outcomes all round.