<![CDATA[The Huddle Breakdown: Huddle Breakdown Specials]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/s/huddle-breakdown-specialshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2xMx!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F992726ea-c2f9-4181-a117-89edbd8ddc0a_900x900.pngThe Huddle Breakdown: Huddle Breakdown Specialshttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/s/huddle-breakdown-specialsSubstackMon, 06 Apr 2026 01:04:39 GMT<![CDATA[The Economics of Match-Fixing, Asian Betting Markets & Football Governance with Dr. David Forrest - THE HUDDLE BREAKDOWN INTERVIEW]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-economics-of-match-fixing-asianhttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-economics-of-match-fixing-asianFri, 27 Mar 2026 04:07:50 GMTIn this special interview episode of The Huddle Breakdown, James and Alan are joined by Dr. David Forrest, Professor of Sports Economics at Liverpool University, to dive into the murky underworld of match-fixing and football corruption. Dr. Forrest breaks down the staggering scale of unregulated Asian betting markets, how criminal syndicates infiltrate clubs, and why an elite referee admitted it is "dead easy" to rig a game with just a single defensive mistake. The panel also debates the "extortion" of the American franchise cartel model, the unique vulnerabilities of leagues like the League of Ireland, and Alan unpacks the glaring statistical anomalies that suggest Scottish refereeing suffers from a deeply ingrained cultural bias rather than financial corruption.

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]]><![CDATA[Risks, Chaos and Simple Metrics]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/risks-chaos-and-simple-metricshttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/risks-chaos-and-simple-metricsMon, 23 Feb 2026 15:06:19 GMTOn Oct 23rd, in a Europa League tie against Sturm Graz, Celtic lost Kelechi Iheanacho and Alistair Johnson to hamstring injuries. The match would also prove to be the last one for some time for Cameron Carter-Vickers as he succumbed to an Achilles tendon injury. Not kicked, not freak accidents, just soft tissue giving out.

Celtic players, many with an eye on representing their nations at the upcoming World Cup must have been concerned at the level of care that they were receiving at the club.

A few days later, in a show of apparent petulance, Brendan Rodgers picked the inexperienced Colby Donovan and Dane Murray as replacements for Johnson and Carter-Vickers ahead of Scotland international Anthony Ralston and US international Auston Trusty (whom Rodgers himself had brought to the club for a fee of £6 million) for a crucial fixture at Tynecastle. Hearts duly trounced the weakened Celtic team by 3-1. A few hours later, Rodgers, depending on your point of view, walked, flounced or was driven out of the club. Celtic have been managing the fall-out from these turbulent few days ever since.

After Rodgers’ departure, veteran ex-manager Martin O’Neill was brought in to steady the ship pending the appointment of a new “permanent” manager. Wilfried Nancy then took the helm, but his time at the club was cut short after a string of terrible results, and O’Neill was re-instated for the remainder of the season.

I thought it would be interesting to look at this challenging period for the club, initially using the simplest possible performance metric - shots, for and against. I’m only using data from league games to allow meaningful comparisons. All data is from the Huddle Breakdown Stat Packs up to the Killie match.

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]]><![CDATA[The Plan to Buy Back Control of Celtic | Duncan Smilie on The Huddle Breakdown Interview]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-plan-to-buy-back-control-of-celtichttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-plan-to-buy-back-control-of-celticFri, 06 Feb 2026 14:56:22 GMTIn this special interview episode, James and Alan sit down with Duncan Smillie, chair of Celtic Supporters Limited (CSL), to discuss the bold plan to amass a 29.9% shareholding in the club. Duncan explains why this "evolution, not revolution" strategy is necessary to protect Celtic from hostile sales and influence board decisions. He pulls no punches on the current regime, describing the hoarding of cash while the stadium decays and the team stagnates as "corporate negligence" and labeling the recruitment process a "shambles" compared to other Scottish clubs.

]]><![CDATA[Bringing Club-Level Data to the Masses | John Muller on Football’s Analytics Revolution ]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/bringing-club-level-data-to-the-masseshttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/bringing-club-level-data-to-the-massesThu, 16 Oct 2025 20:24:41 GMTIn this special Huddle Breakdown Interview, Alan and James talk to John Muller — The Athletic alumnus and co-founder of Futi, a startup aiming to bring club-level football analytics to fans. Muller explains how data changed the sport not through tactics but recruitment, and how Futi is closing the gap between elite clubs and supporters. They discuss the evolution of analytics since Guardiola’s Barcelona, the next frontier of tracking and computer-vision data, and why understanding space is football’s true language.

You can find John on Bluesky at @johnspacemuller.com and Futi app at @futiapp.bsky.social

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]]><![CDATA[Ted Knutson Interview | From StatsBomb to Set Pieces, Brighton, Brentford & Celtic’s Future]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/ted-knutson-interview-from-statsbombhttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/ted-knutson-interview-from-statsbombMon, 08 Sep 2025 02:26:41 GMTWith all of us Celtic fans reeling from boardroom chaos and transfer frustration, this week’s Huddle Breakdown Interview offers a welcome break from the turmoil. James sits down with Ted Knutson — co-founder of StatsBomb and pioneer in football analytics — for a wide-ranging interview. Ted shares his journey from gambling at Pinnacle to reshaping recruitment at clubs like Brentford and Brighton, explains why set pieces and throw-ins can “break the game,” and compares the analytics adoption curve in football and the NFL. They also cover Tony Bloom’s brilliance at Brighton and USG, the 49ers’ influence at Leeds, and what Celtic could learn from smarter clubs abroad. This is a rare chance to hear directly from one of the most influential minds in modern football.

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]]><![CDATA[THE HUDDLE BREAKDOWN INTERVIEW: Jonathan Wilson]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-huddle-breakdown-interview-jonathanhttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-huddle-breakdown-interview-jonathanTue, 24 Jun 2025 21:39:07 GMTWe are thrilled to bring you the next installment of The Huddle Breakdown Interview with renowned football journalist, Jonathan Wilson.

The interview covers a lot ground including:

• The Lisbon Lions and their historic importance in the evolution of football tactics

• His experience of Celtic in Seville

• When did things go wrong for Scottish football

• Wealth disparity in football

• The future of football journalism

Jonathan has written for The Independent, FourFourTwo magazine and The Sunday Telegraph and Sports Illustrated, and was football correspondent for the Financial Times from 2002 to 2006. He writes for The Guardian and UnHerd and is a columnist for World Soccer.

In 2011 he founded the quarterly football journal The Blizzard, which he edits.

His book, Inverting the Pyramid was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2008, and won 'Best Football Book' at the British Sports Book Awards in 2009. Nine of his other books have also been shortlisted for the award. Inverting the Pyramid also won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli and was shortlisted for the German football book of the year award.

His book, Angels with Dirty Faces, which covered the history of football in Argentina, won "Best Football Book" and "Best Historical Book" at the Polish Sports Book Awards (Sportowa Książka Roku) in 2018. The Names Heard Long Ago won "Best Foreign Football Book" at the awards in 2023.

He won FSA Football Writer of the Year in 2012, 2017, 2021 and 2024.

He currently writes at his Substack, Wilson’s World and co-hosts the Libero and It Was What It Was podcasts.

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]]><![CDATA[THE HUDDLE BREAKDOWN INTERVIEW - Thomas Grønnemark | The Throw-in Coach]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-huddle-breakdown-interview-thomashttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-huddle-breakdown-interview-thomasWed, 05 Mar 2025 19:08:35 GMTHave you ever wondered about the quality of Celtic's throw-ins? Wonder no longer. We are thrilled to welcome world-renowned throw-in coach, Thomas Grønnemark, on to the show.

We sent Thomas 250 Celtic throw-ins to analyse and he had some very interesting things to say. Alan and James also talk to Thomas about his life and career and what's next.

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]]><![CDATA[Glossary]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/glossaryhttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/glossarySun, 26 Jan 2025 12:31:42 GMT

NOTE: This post will likely be too large to view via your mail server. Therefore please read on huddlebreakdown.com.

A Glossary is a very necessary artefact for a data site! It aims to provide a definition against each data point so that, for example, the match stat packs are more easily digestible as are the podcasts.

I collect my data and do not use any…

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]]><![CDATA[THE HUDDLE BREAKDOWN INTERVIEW: Sir David Spiegelhalter | World Renowned Statistician]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-huddle-breakdown-interview-sir-82dhttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/the-huddle-breakdown-interview-sir-82dSun, 29 Dec 2024 22:04:00 GMTWe are thrilled to welcome Sir David Spiegelhalter to The Huddle Breakdown in the second installment of ‘The Huddle Breakdown Interview’. He talks to Alan and James in a wide ranging conversation including the role of luck in football.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS OBE is the closest thing the world of statistics has to a national treasure. His new book, The Art of Uncertainty: Living with Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck is an engaging and informative guide to living with uncertainty in a world that makes it inevitable. He is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. His bestselling book, The Art of Statistics, has been published in 11 languages. His current roles are as Non-Executive Director, UK Statistics Authority; Mathematical Futures expert board of the Royal Society; Member of the Statistics Expert Group for the Infected Blood Inquiry, 2019 – 2024; and Advisor; NHS Maternity and Neonatal Outcomes Group.

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]]><![CDATA[A HUDDLE BREAKDOWN SPECIAL: In The Heat of Lisbon | The 1967 European Cup Final]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/a-huddle-breakdown-special-in-the-b27https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/a-huddle-breakdown-special-in-the-b27Wed, 25 Dec 2024 22:00:00 GMT

We’re delighted to offer you the Huddle Breakdown treatment of Celtic’s greatest ever game: the 1967 European Cup Final.

A full match analysis by Alan and James can be found here.

A Stats Pack from the game can be found here.

The Yorkshire Whistler rules over the game’s biggest flashpoints here.

We hope you enjoy and look forward to offering more classic matches in the near future!

Hail Hail!

The Huddle Breakdown Team

]]><![CDATA[Introducing ‘The Huddle Breakdown Interview’: David Sumpter | International Bestselling Author of Soccermatics]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/introducing-the-huddle-breakdown-00ehttps://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/introducing-the-huddle-breakdown-00eTue, 08 Oct 2024 22:02:00 GMT

As part of our expanded offering at The Huddle Breakdown, we’re excited to introduce The Huddle Breakdown Interview—a new series featuring conversations with authors, journalists, and thought leaders at the cutting edge of football.

For our inaugural episode, we’re thrilled to welcome international bestselling author David Sumpter to the show. Alan and J…

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]]><![CDATA[A Eulogy for Rangers]]>https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/a-eulogy-for-rangers-ff1https://www.huddlebreakdown.com/p/a-eulogy-for-rangers-ff1Thu, 06 Jun 2024 14:34:00 GMTDearly Beloved, witness Alan Morrison as he delivers the last rites in full.

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