Are You Not Entertained?

AYNE 814 - Goal/Own Goal

Grant and Roger dive into a vintage Old Firm weekend and a three‑way Scottish title race, with Hearts crashing the party while a clueless Labour leader suggests Celtic and Rangers should politely cheer for each other.  From there they go big picture: Rangers’ lost menace, clubs rebranded into asset‑class logos, and Roger’s new essay asking whether football should change for Gen Z or die with its soul intact. Along the way there’s a heart‑stopping Kentucky Derby win for the first female trainer and a heartfelt tribute to the incomparable Alex Zanardi. It’s Goal/Own Goal, brought to you by Lockeroom.

AYNE 813 - Citizen AYNE

Roger Mitchell and Mark Oliver launch Citizen AYNE, a new AYNE series inspired by Citizen Kane, by rewinding to the white‑heat of the dot‑com boom and Roger’s time running the Scottish Premier League. Using their first deal together as a live case study, they unpack how tech money, over-excited broadcasters and new investors created a “boom on a boom” in media rights, why today’s AI and chip-stock frenzy feels eerily similar, and how modern moguls like Bezos and Ellison now sit where Malone and Murdoch once did in deciding the future value of sport. Brought to you by 54.

AYNE 812 - Goal/Own Goal

Grant’s racing the clock to make a tee time at Sunningdale, but first he and Roger pull apart the future of LIV and Saudi money: Neom’s burning cash, the tallest‑building curse is flashing red, and suddenly golf’s easy money era doesn’t look so easy.  From there it’s London in flames — Clear Lake buzzword merchants, Spurs hiring a “lead psychologist” on LinkedIn, Karen Brady discovering that nobody gets out of football’s C‑suite alive, and why West Ham’s brutal honesty is buying them goodwill while Chelsea drown in management‑speak. Its Goal/Own Goal, brought to you by Lockeroom.

AYNE 811 - The Confessional: Giles Morgan

In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Giles Morgan to explore a lifetime at the sharp end of sports sponsorship — from wielding HSBC’s global checkbook to reinventing himself as the Sponsorship Doctor. Giles reflects on how his Hong Kong glory years brought lasting regret of choosing career over time with his children, and the humbling reset that followed.  He also lays out a lifetime’s thoughts on sponsorship: why perimeter boards and AVE were always the wrong north star, how true value lies in “tribe-to-tribe” relationships between brands and fans, and why the Lions–Howden partnership should be seen as a playbook for data-led, emotionally honest activation rather than just logos on shirts.  Brought to you by Lockeroom.

AYNE 810 - Goal/Own Goal

Grant binge‑watches 24 hours of Masters coverage as Rory hangs on to claim back‑to‑back green jackets. From there he and Roger jump to Arsenal’s title nerves, German ultras nicking and burning flags, Infantino’s tone‑deaf World Cup cash‑grab, and why real, messy fan culture and lower‑league chaos still feel infinitely more honest than the leveraged “sport as asset class” fantasy. Along the way: Marie‑Louise Eta makes history as the first woman to take charge of a men’s team in any of Europe’s top five leagues, and an Italian prank call goes wrong. It’s Goal/Own Goal, brought to you by Lockeroom.

AYNE 809 - THE CAPTAINS TABLE - Alan Gilpin

In Season 3 of The Captain’s Table, the Captain is focusing on meetings the leaders of the international sports industry - to find out what their own passions for sport really are and the lessons in leadership they have learnt from working in the industry. In the first episode of the new Season, we are joined by Alan Gilpin - CEO of World Rugby. Brought to you by The Sponsorship Doctor and Fortnum & Mason.

AYNE 808 - Goal/Own Goal

Grant drags a “punchy” Roger out of bed to unpack Tiger’s latest DUI‑style crash, meme‑ified into a “Tiger Woods bull market indicator,” and the slow, brutal death of AMC’s diamond‑hand apes.  From there they rip into The Athletic’s Jimmy Savile hand‑wringing, the ignored courage of Iran’s women’s team, and the elite outrage over Nigel Farage at Ipswich and Ratcliffe at United—asking why half the country’s views are treated as obscene rather than democratic reality. Brought to you by Lockeroom

AYNE 807 - The Confessional: Tal Brown

Roger Mitchell: In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Tal Brown — Israeli-born Silicon Valley AI entrepreneur, former army intelligence tech architect, and the man behind Zone7’s groundbreaking injury-prediction platform — for a deeply human conversation about integrity, sacrifice, and what it costs to chase your ambitions across continents. A true “third culture kid,” Tal reflects on leaving family behind to go build in the Bay Area, and the reality of being an Israeli and a Jew in 2026. Tal (and Roger) also reflect on selling B2B sportech into a sector that often doesn’t actually have the desire to change. This alone is essential listening  for all those hoping to make a career in sport innovation. Raw, honest, principled, and quietly philosophical — this one stays with you. Brought to you by Lockroom.

AYNE 806 - Goal/Own Goal

Grant and Roger christen Roger’s new den, then use Grant’s Roadrunner “Genius Act” newsletter and his eerily on‑point drones piece to link cartoons, stablecoins and modern warfare.  From NIL and the slow death of college sports to 18‑mile “marathons,” cooling breaks, Club World Cup bloat and sanitized Premier League crowds, they argue sport is being rebuilt for fair‑weather customers while Germany quietly proves there’s a better way. Brought to you by PEDL Labs.

AYNE 805 - Goal/Own Goal

Grant and Roger open with a heartfelt tribute to Matty Cutler, the quietly brilliant sports‑biz pioneer who helped spark this whole project. From there they dive into shadow banking and private equity creeping through sport’s finances, before landing on the U.S. Olympic hockey furore, media echo chambers, DEI rollbacks and a brutally honest question: has multicultural “integration” actually worked, or is sport just the latest battlefield in a culture war nobody’s winning? Brought to you by PEDL Labs.