The Downtown Den Podcast

In the latest instalment of the Downtown Den Podcast, co-founder of VSI Executive Education Andy McIntyre is joined by former Liverpool, Coventry and Blackburn Rovers footballer David Thompson.

David discusses coming through the ranks at Liverpool Football Club, his moves to Coventry and Blackburn and his eventual early retirement.

With injury cruelly cutting his footballing career short and affecting his personal life, David candidly recounts his struggles with mental health and the lack of help he was offered back during his playing days.

Looking to the future David shares his hope and vision for his future career and how he can utilise his experiences to guide the future generations of young footballers.

In the latest episode of the Downtown Den podcast, Andy McIntyre from VSI Executive Education speaks with sports broadcasting specialist David Murray.

In a fascinating conversation David discusses his career in which he was involved in the early years of the broadcasting rights deals for the English Premier League back in the early 1990's.

David subsequently moved onto the BBC where he helped to secure the broadcasting rights for Match of The Day. 

David also shares his thoughts on why the Broadcasting model for the Premier League has been a major factor in the English Premier League becoming the global game and with the ever increasing development of technology his thoughts on how the world of broadcasting might change over the next 10-20 years.

In the latest episode of the Downtown Den podcast, we have former Burnley FC director Brendan Flood in conversation with Andy McIntyre from VSI Executive Education.

In a fascinating discussion Brendan shares his career journey from starting off in Barclays bank to setting up his own university and his experiences with helping Burnley FC achieve promotion to the premier league.

Brendan founded UCFB at Burnley's Turf Moor in 2011, the world's first higher education institution with university degrees in the football and sports industry.

https://www.ucfb.ac.uk/

Downtown in Business is fortunate to work in partnership with some of the very best businesses across the country.

We wanted to give you the opportunity of getting to know them a bit better, and we have recorded a series of conversations in the Downtown Den with the personalities behind the brands.

First up in our ‘Meet the Partner’ series is Asif Ghafoor, the chief executive of Be.EV, a company that is at the forefront of driving the net zero agenda.

https://be-ev.co.uk/

On Thursday 7^th September, Downtown in Business will host its inaugural ‘Business of Sport’ conference at Lancashire Cricket Clubs Emirates Stadium in Manchester.

To give you a taste of the type of discussions and debates that will be taking place at the conference, event sponsor VSI Executive Education have worked in partnership with DIB to record a series of fascinating conversations with personalities who are involved in sport – either as performers, investors, or administrators – and they have some great insights to share.

Presented by VSI Chair Andy McIntyre, his podcast guests include Premier League title winner Wes Morgan, head of sports rights for the BBC David Murray, football club owner and entrepreneur Brendan Flood, and Olympic medal winner Goldie Sayers.

Among the confirmed speakers for The ‘Business of Sport’ conference are Gary Neville, Natalie Atkinson, Goldie sayers, and Sir Howard Bernstein. To book your tickets for what will be another amazing Downtown in Business experience please click here.

First up, it’s Wes Morgan, the man who captained Leicester City to their surprise Premier League title back in 2016.   

The latest guest in the Downtown Den podcast is the chief executive officer of FC United Natalie Atkinson.

In this candid discussion with Downtown boss, Frank McKenna, Natalie shares her journey into football, the journey of FC United and its community involvement and the progress and future of womens football.

For more information on FC United visit https://fc-utd.co.uk/

Connect with Natalie on LinkedIn.

Next up on the Downtown Den podcast we have Sophie Gilmore, Managing Director of Hybrid Training Centre.

In conversation with Frank McKenna, Sophie discusses her journey from leaving school with no GCSE's to apprentice hairdresser to Hybrid. She is also candid in her struggles with imposter syndrome and her views on how the education system could be altered to benefit the majority of students.

For more information about Hybrid Training Services visit: https://hybridtec.co.uk/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridtechnicalservices/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hybrid-technical-services/

In the latest episode of the Downtown Den podcast, we are delighted to have the CEO of Co-operatives UK, Rose Marley join Downtown boss, Frank McKenna.

The voice of the UK's co-operative movement, Co-operatives UK empowers and supports co-operative enterprise with specialised knowledge and expertise to grow the co-operative economy and create a fairer society.

About Rose

Self employed from a young age, Rose cut her teeth in the music business during the ‘Madchester’ era. Inspired by the lack of social mobility in the creative industries, she then turned her focus to social enterprise. Rose was the founding COO of Manchester City Council developments The Sharp Project and Space Studios where she was a founding director of award winning social enterprise SharpFutures. This led to Rose becoming the Social Enterprise Advisor to Greater Manchester Labour and Co operative Mayor, Andy Burnham, and lead for the young person's opportunities card Our Pass.

Find out more about Rose at https://www.uk.coop/about-us/meet-team

FROM JAVELIN THROWER TO PROPERTY INVESTOR – THE STORY OF GOLDIE SAYERS

Successful athlete turned businesswoman Goldie Sayer features in the latest Downtown Den podcast. To celebrate the announcement of the inaugural DIB ‘Business of Sport’ conference which will take place at the Emirates Old Trafford at Lancashire Cricket Club on 7th September 2023.

Goldie joined us during lockdown to discuss her Javelin throwing exploits that led to an Olympic medal, her influence in sport now, and her new career as a property investor.

Well worth a listen, Goldie certainly fits the ‘Winning Women’ title of this season of the Downtown Den. Future guests include Co-op boss Rose Marley, the CEO of FC United Natalie Atkinson, and the chief executive of Birmingham City Council Elaine Bowker.     

This series of the Downtown Den Podcast is all about Winning Women, in the latest episode Downtown boss Frank McKenna speaks with Liverpool business leader, Kate Stewart.

In this episode, Kate takes us on a whirlwind journey, from dropping out of school to making her first million by the age of 26.

Kate was responsible for the management of the Liverpool Heritage Market and has since gone onto forge a succesful business career in the hospitality sector.

Kate also shares her opinion of the education system and why it needs reform and why she created, Vitality Homes, a hugely successful initiative that gives its residents who may be former addicts, prisoners or anyone who has suffered hardship and found themselves on the wrong path, a chance to turn their lives around long-term and become better members of society.  

Follow Kate on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrskastewart

Follow Kate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katestewartlife