There is a dizzying array of sports podcasts on offer these days and only so many hours in the week to catch up with them.
Here are five shows which we reckon will guarantee listeners a rewarding podcast experience.
That Peter Crouch Podcast
The 6ft 7in former England striker is now a towering presence in the sport podcasts charts with his popular show alongside BBC journalists Chris Stark and Tom Fordyce.
Crouchy has a wealth of anecdotes from his 20-year career at Liverpool, Tottenham, Stoke (and many, many others) and he also fields questions from listeners about the ins and outs of professional football.
The big man’s endearing personality means special guests are queuing up to join the fun and the likes of Theo Walcott, Liam Gallagher and Harry Redknapp have popped up on recent shows.
Prince William and Sean Dyche have also appeared on the podcast this year – fortunately in different episodes otherwise it might have been hard for listeners to tell them apart …
Tailenders
This BBC cricket podcast has the perfect blend of broadcasting knowhow from Radio 1 DJ Greg James and top-class sporting insight from England’s record Test wicket-taker James Anderson.
The pair provide a great mix of matey chat and big-name guests, along with some musical interludes from Felix White of The Maccabees – like James, a passionate cricket fan.
Originally launched for the 2017-18 Ashes series, Tailenders raised its bat to all corners of the podcast world to celebrate a century of episodes earlier this year as England legend Anderson scrolls through his phone contacts to lure guests of the calibre of Joe Root and Stuart Broad on to the show.
Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?
This witty and nostalgic podcast takes its title from the question posed to ITV co-commentator Kevin Keegan as David Batty stepped up to take a penalty against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup (Keegan said yes but Argentina keeper Carlos Roa disagreed).
Comedian Josh Widdicome and pals Chris Scull and Michael Marsden address all the big footballing issues, as long as they happened between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 1999.
Forget Salah, Aubameyang and Kane – if your top three Premier League strikers of all time are Dean Holdsworth, Darren Huckerby and Chris Armstrong then this is the show for you.
Racing Post Football Postcast
‘Quickly Kevin’ has both feet firmly planted in the 1990s but for bang up-to-date betting analysis and previews of the upcoming football, tune in to the Racing Post’s long-running Football Postcast.
Like its horse-racing counterpart, the Post’s football show offers listeners expert insight from the paper’s writers as host Jack Reeve is joined each week by top tipsters such as Mark Langdon and Dan Childs.
The panel may not have predicted Aston Villa’s 7-2 win over Liverpool last week but their discussion throws up plenty of punting pointers – as well as the tipsters’ all-important weekend ‘naps’.
The Good, The Bad and The Rugby
Banter and rugby union have gone hand in hand for decades and former England internationals James Haskell and Mike Tindall, along with journalist Alex Payne, maintain that tradition in this excellent series.
Haskell and Tindall’s experiences at the highest level give the show plenty of clout but they are never far away from the next gag or anecdote.
‘The Good, The Bad and The Rugby’ only launched in August but already Eddie Jones, Jason Leonard and Johnny Sexton have joined the lads and New Zealand star Ma’a Nonu came on to talk about creamed rice pudding (as well as the pressures of playing for the All Blacks).
