This week’s guest is Paddy Agnew, an Irish journalist based in Rome who covers Italian football for World Soccer magazine along with Vatican affairs for the Sunday Independent.
Paddy has been living in Italy since 1985, and in that time has covered some of football’s greatest names. We discuss his experience of following a few of them, including Diego Maradona, Liam Brady and, eh, Sven.
We also chat about what it’s like to jet around the world with the Pope, his experience of writing about the Troubles for Magill magazine, and of growing up as the neighbour whom Martin O’Neill wouldn’t meet until football brought them together.
His picks were all books: Gunshots and Goalposts, The story of N.I. football by Benjamin Roberts, A Season With Verona by Tim Parks, Calcio by John Foot, Hand of God by Jimmy Burns, and Obsessed, by Richard Dunwoody with David Walsh.
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