The Special One

In this week’s The Socially Distant Sports Bar, Elis James, Mike Bubbins and Steff Garrero have a documentary and book which take us into two very different stories of coaching, leadership and sporting history.

Elis: Mourinho

Elis chooses Part 1 of the new Netflix documentary about José Mourinho, tracing his journey from working alongside Bobby Robson at Barcelona to announcing himself to English football with that extraordinary first spell at Chelsea.

Before the fallouts, sackings and rather more complicated chapters that would follow, there was the young Mourinho: ambitious, charismatic, tactically obsessive and rapidly becoming The Special One.

https://www.netflix.com/title/81762073

Mike: Rugby’s Forgotten Black Leader by Tony Collins

Mike brings in Tony Collins’ fascinating account of Roy Francis, one of the great overlooked figures in British sporting history.

Born in Cardiff and raised in Brynmawr, Francis went on to play rugby league for Wigan in the late 1930s before moving into coaching. At Hull, he became the first Black professional head coach in British sport, pioneering new approaches to coaching and training while confronting the racism of the era.

It’s a remarkable Welsh story, a rugby league story and an important piece of British sporting history that deserves to be far better known.

https://link.amazon/B0azGPvXt

Two very different coaches. Two very different eras. And plenty for Elis, Mike and Steff to get stuck into.

Thanks for listening.

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