Former England cricket captain Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff has joined BBC Radio 5 live to host a new weekly sport podcast.
He’ll be co-hosting with former premier league footballer and BBC pundit Robbie Savage and former Olympic table tennis player and sports journalist Matthew Syed. The new podcast, called Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong Guy, starts on Monday, 13th February.
Robbie Savage was part of the 606 phone-in show which won the Radio Academy award for best sports programme last year. Speaking about the new podcast, Robbie said: “What a show it’s going to be. A great sportsman, a decent cricketer and a useful table tennis player – the perfect combination.”
Freddie adds: “I’m looking forward to having an intelligent conversation with Matthew. Robbie will be there too.”
Matthew says: “Sport has so many dimensions, so many talking points and vast potential for debate and disagreement, whether about psychology, ethics, officialdom, or whether Jose Mourinho is overrated. I’m going to make sure I get raw honesty from them, and know they won’t hold back from sharing personal experiences, and offering their viewpoints, even when they are unpopular.”
It’s the first in a series of new ‘podcast first programmes’ for the station. By April the station says it will launch the first ever football podcast for kids.
Podcasts dedicated to Rugby League and Rugby Union will also launch this year. The BBC’s Rugby League correspondent Dave Woods will host the podcast from a different match each week. He’ll be discussing the biggest issues in the game with prominent players and coaches.
Former England international Ugo Monye and BBC Sport’s Chris Jones are looking at the national and international stories in 5 live’s Rugby Union Weekly. The new podcast started last week, coinciding with the start of the Six Nations.
The podcast will be available for download every Monday afternoon. A shorter version will air on 5 live at 10pm on Mondays.
Listeners can sign up for the new podcast on the BBC Radio 5 live website and on iTunes.