Gabriel Agbonlahor is the all time leading scorer for Aston Villa Football Club – he is a true legend there and we dive into his time there - but when I think of Gabby I think of this -

It’s an interesting time for a player when it comes time to retire.

They are still young – usually in their early 30’s – they're famous, have a ton of money, a ton of time, they don’t really know how to do anything else, and used to the rush of 50,000 people screaming for you once per week. And well - it does not always go well for a young man with that set of circumstances.

And when I think of Gabby Agbonlahor – I think about this moment in his life. He remembers how it crept up on him – like, wait – 'I can just grab my lads and head to Las Vegas, or Monaco, and hang out and party?

And when Gabby retired he did this - for one year – way too much booze, living a fast and hard life – until he had a moment – a personal moment of reflection that wise people can have – that his life was veering out of control and he had to right the ship.

So, Gabby caught himself before he fell too far - and he entered the field of soccer journalism and punditry and found himself right at home. He now talks football on the biggest radio station in the world – and he’s quite good at it – full of humor and charisma – and often with a controversial take that lands him in the papers.

Gabby also counsels other football clubs on how to deal with life after the game – how to plan ahead – how to avoid trouble, care for your mental health and live a good post career life.

I learned a lot from Gabby and I hope you find him as interesting as I did.

Episode 17 – Gabriel Agbonlahor

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He was the best American soccer player when America could care less about soccer.

Today, the most talented 21 year old American player – we know that guy. He is probably quite famous, rich and playing at a massive club. This was not the case in 1989 for John Harkes.

But his ability could not be overlooked, and as such he was able to play at levels no American ever had before: the Prem, FA Cup, Wembley.

He would star in two World Cups, and with his teammates and friends, were so successful that the US National Team will never again be as irrelevant as it was when John was coming up.

He was a key member to the initial launch of the MLS – and while more lucrative opportunities lay elsewhere – as a US Player, who never really had ‘a league of their own’ he, along with his colleagues, wanted to leave one for those players that came after.

I loved my chat with John – smiled the entire time - Give us a listen and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

EP: 16 – the great John Harkes

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This is a really sad one for me – Andreas Brehme tragically passed away this week – at the age of 63 in his home town of Munich.

If you do not know of Andi, he is a true legend of German football - having scored one of the biggest goals in that nation’s history to win the World Cup in 1990 in Italy.

But I will always remember and have love for Andi as he was the first guest I ever reached out to that actually said ‘yes’ to my interview request. I was lucky with my timing in that he was working on his memoir at the time. I am sure he thought: ‘sure, I will sit with this silly American as I have been reliving memories for my book – why not do it for a podcast – whatever the hell that is’.

‘Come to Munich’ he said – ‘and I will get you interviews with a lot of my friends’. Not knowing if it would entirely work out, we did go – and he was good on his word and secured us 12 sits with German internationals all over the country.

As a player, Andi also spent time with Inter Milan and is a sort of legend in northern Italy – ‘Come to Milan’ he said – ‘and I will get you interviews with my Italian friends.’ We did go - and he connected us with 7 Italian internationals who only sat with us as it was a favor to Andi.

He said once that we would do another podcast one day – ‘I was your first one, you were my first one – but you come back and I will be your 100th episode, and we will see how far you have come’

I would have loved for that to have happened. But I guess this will have to do.

So I hope you enjoy my talk with this great and funny man. And if this is your introduction to his career and life – I truly hope I do it justice here.

Andi Brehme – SoccerPod #15 – Thank you Andi!

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