"Ciao For Now": La Finale

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Tell me, how do you like the new Flensburg beach?

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Powerful! Huh? Powerful! Huh? Powerful!

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Again? Powerful! Powerful!

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, powerful as the coast wind and at the same time mild as the sunlight.

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Flensburg beach, unfiltered like the real North.

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Go to the sea!

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Hey Serie A Chronicles, to fozy, it's Nicky here for what will be, for now, the last time on the Chronicles feed.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Some of you may have already read the news, others might be hearing this for the first time,

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_03]: but unfortunately we have made the really difficult decision not to bring back the podcast for the 2024-25 season.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure you can imagine this was not a decision we took lightly.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_03]: We have loved making the podcast for you guys, but without wanting to speak for everyone because each of us came to this from our own slightly different angles,

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I think the overarching theme would have to be that we are all busy people who need to think carefully at times about where we can afford to put our time and energy in every week,

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_03]: in every month because we all have bills to pay and responsibilities to look after.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_03]: And again, I'm going to overuse the word unfortunately in this voice note, but we simply weren't able to make this podcast financially a success.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_03]: I am going to miss it terribly.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_03]: I know that a lot of you who have been following this from the beginning were previously listening to the City Are Awesome podcast that I used to do together with Mina and Matteo Benetti and Gav Marcotti.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_03]: That was very much the starting point, I think for me with this podcast is when ESPN lost those rights to Italian football and that podcast ended,

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Mina and I got together and said, is there a way we can keep this thing going?

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_03]: And I want to say a massive thank you to Mina.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Mina is my buddy and I'm going to miss terribly getting to chat to her every week about Italian football.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Obviously we're still going to be buddies, but we really gave ourselves an excuse to get together and do this thing every week.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's been so many years now that we've been doing it.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be a void.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_03]: So love you Mina, going to miss doing this with you and thank you for doing it with me.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you to Simon as well who was absolutely essential in getting this thing off the ground to produce this.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Simon, Mina and I had this idea.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_03]: We also had no idea how to do any of the production stuff to make a podcast and Simon who just jumped in from the other side of the world and said, yes, I will make this thing happen for you.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely. Without him wouldn't have happened.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_03]: So thank you Simon for doing that for us and with us and being so much fun to do it with.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_03]: And thank you to Patrick as well who joined a little bit later, but still I think was just brilliant in terms of being someone brilliant to work with and in terms of I think what he contributed to the podcast.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_03]: We were looking for ways to make the podcast even better.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_03]: In our drive to make this the best podcast we could and to make it a success.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_03]: We thought that adding that extra voice in could be something to explore and Patrick who is a wonderful commentator and brilliant analyst of Italian football who has I think really distinct ideas and a clear vision for how he sees football.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I think was wonderful to work with and bring in as well.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_03]: And I hope you enjoyed all of us in the different things we brought to it because the biggest thank you for sure is for you guys who have downloaded and supported us in all the various ways.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I think we've had some incredible landmarks with this podcast.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_03]: In the first season we launched, we hit 40,000 monthly downloads which I know that the number might not sound like anything to people who don't spend time working on podcasts but I can promise you from talking to lots of podcast producers 40,000 monthly downloads is a seriously good number to be hitting so soon after your launch.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_03]: And unfortunately still to keep using that word.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_03]: We just didn't know how to translate that into a solid financial footing for the show.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_03]: We tried different things.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_03]: We went to Patreon, we tried different models.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Perhaps those were missteps.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Perhaps we wound up shrinking our audience by doing that and all I can say for that is it's a learning process and we didn't know and we've been working things out on the fly and learning with you guys.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_03]: And what I will say is just thank you to everyone who did stay with us and supported us and did everything that we asked you to do to try and help us make this thing work.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_03]: And most of all just everyone who enjoyed the content because that's really been the reason to make it isn't it?

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_03]: So that you guys will enjoy listening to it.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_03]: We're sorry we couldn't keep it going for now.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_03]: You will still be able to find us doing work around Italian football in each of our different projects.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Again I can't speak for everything that everyone else has coming up for me.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_03]: You will still find me writing my weekly column through the season for The Guardian.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_03]: You will still hear me regularly on the continent podcast and the guardians weekly podcast.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_03]: You will still see and hear me in various other places such as ESPN, Sky Sports, 8x8 magazine and who knows where else the BBC who knows where else beyond that through this season.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_03]: I have various irons in fire at the moment and we'll see where those pan out.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_03]: If there's people listening who think oh I really enjoy Nicky's work or Mina's work or Patrick's work or Simon's work then fairly sure you'll still be able to reach us through the Seria Chronicles feed.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_03]: If not for me you can find me on Twitter or X as it is now.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Not my favourite platform in the world to be absolutely truthful but it's the one where I've built up my audience through the years.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_03]: So if you want to seek me out I will still be there and telling you guys what I've got going on there as well.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm certain you can find everyone else from this podcast on there as well but they may have other places where it's better for them to chat.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_03]: So I will leave it for them if they want to chip in as well and say where best to find them and what they've got going on.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_03]: But yes one more time a massive thank you from me to Mina and Patrick and Simon and to all of you guys.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_03]: The Chronicles of Ozzy but just everyone who's downloaded and made this show so fun to make these last few years.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Hi guys Patrick Kendrick here. It's bittersweet to be saying farewell to Seria Chronicles.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll try and keep this short and sweet because that will reflect my involvement in the podcast.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01]: First and foremost I was hugely flattered to be asked on as a guest last season.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Then latterly honoured really to be brought on as a permanent member of the crew by Simon, Nicky and Mina.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And I really enjoyed building an on air rapport with both Nicky and Mina.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I love the support that we got from Simon on the production side.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: That's really what you want when you're trying to make a product to know that you can turn up and everything has been done behind the scenes.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: The support from Simon was superb. I have the utmost respect for Nicky and Mina and everything that they've achieved in terms of covering Seria.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_01]: This podcast was already very much up and running before I got involved with the legacy that Nicky mentioned there.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_01]: In terms of working under the ESPN banner with Gad Markotti and Matteo Bonetti.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So it was really fun really. There was some verbal sparring at times.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I know that we occasionally disagreed with our views about Italian football and some of the big names and the big teams and which direction they'd go in.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So I really enjoyed having a different perspective from Mina and from Nicky seeing the game from a different angle.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was just nice to be able to put my thoughts out there on Seria without necessarily having the filter of my role as a commentator for the Seria World Feed.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Which I will continue to do amongst other endeavors and it is those endeavors really which has played into the fact that much like what Nicky has just said there.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I can't really commit the time that I'd like to this podcast to really make it a success.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: It's again about striking the right balance between personal life, professional commitments.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately the professional commitments have just mounted up.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I say unfortunately it's good as a freelancer but equally you want to make sure that there is a return on the investment in terms of the time that we all invest to try and make this product successful.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: To try and engage with our passion and engage with our audience.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I have enjoyed also the interaction that I've had with the listeners, with the patrons.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And I know that it's very difficult to make a podcast viable these days.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So shout out to Nicky, Mina and Latter-day Simon again for just how long this podcast lasted and what a success it was in terms of the numbers there that Nicky quoted.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So with a slightly somber tone admittedly, this is me signing off for the last time for the foreseeable future on Seria Chronicles in the hope that we can be back fresh, fit and firing in the future.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: But in the meantime, buon campionato a tutti, have a great season everyone.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And thanks once again to Mina, Nicky and Simon who I will of course be staying in touch with and be keeping a very close eye on what they're up to.

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Ciao for now.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello to everyone.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not going to lie, I'm a little bit emotional to come to you and give you a little farewell chat to say goodbye to all our listeners from the Seria Chronicles podcast.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to echo what Nicky and Patrick have said before that this has just been such a marvelous experience, I think for all of us.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And we are so grateful for all of you being on board.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And Nicky explained the story that a lot of you probably know us from Seria Awesome podcast that was an ESPN.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And I actually wanted to tell you a little story about that because, you know, I had been working for a while covering Italian football.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully some of you had seen or read my work before that.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: But incidentally, it was exactly on this day in 2018 when ESPN, well somebody from ESPN gave me a call at 2am English time, 2am.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Now if anyone knows me they know that I am a night owl so I sleep regularly through your 4am in the morning.

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's why I do shows like up all night for the BBC or at least I used to quite regularly.

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And I got a call and I picked up because it was an American number.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was someone saying, Hi, it's from ESPN.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_00]: We're just wondering about your availability to cover Italian football for the season.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, Yeah, sure, buddy.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And I hung up and the voice called again half an hour later or maybe a few minutes later and said, Hello, this is ESPN.

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that we got disconnected.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: We are, we won the rights for Serie A and we would like to create it.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I once again hung up because I didn't think anyone in the world would contact me at 2am in the morning to offer me such a big time job.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And this happened again.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought that it was just it was hilarious, right?

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So they called me a third time and then they were like, they gave me the name of the journalist who gave them my number and said, I swear this is legit.

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, OK.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And they said we will follow up with we will follow this up with an email to confirm and a contract.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was a very, very funny moment.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But it was literally in the middle of the night that I got this call from ESPN to afford me what ended up being one of my favorite work experiences in my life.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And in that morning, I did get an email.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And in that evening, I left to Italy to broadcast the first game between Kieva Verona and Juventus in 2018 because it was Cristiano Ronaldo's debut.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was a day I'll never forget because it was my birthday.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And and I got to have the most amazing experience at the Bento Godi.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I, in fact, fainted afterwards, which was hilarious, largely because it's so hot in the Bento Godi that I cannot even explain to you.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I was there in the press conference, I walked out and I said to the guys, if you guys want me to be in there, then I am I'm going to need like a medic because it is so hot.

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And I wasn't used to that level of heat.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And if anyone knows in Italy, it's just it's crazy.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And they obviously don't have air conditioning in that stadium.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So ended up being a hilarious experience that was all documented on the first show at ESPN.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And from there on, we decided to start a podcast and the opportunity to work with Nikki Bandini was just so huge for me at the time.

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And from that, not only did we just develop this brilliant podcast, we had three amazing years at ESPN together alongside Gav Marcotti initially and then Matteo Bonetti.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And in that we fortified a very strong friendship.

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And that was one of the best experiences of my career, in all honesty.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And when they lost the rights, we wanted to continue what we had felt was a great bond.

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And it translated to experiences at Sky as well.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It translated to creating this podcast that I hope you guys all enjoyed.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And we thank Simon for giving us the opportunity to relaunch what was said, you're awesome into setting our Chronicles.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's been a wonderful ride.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Bringing on Patrick Kendrick just offered a whole new look at the way that other people can view football.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I so enjoyed the debates.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt like I learned a lot, especially last season, about how people view Italian football, the different opinions that surround it.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, I did learn this when Gav would take me on and shout at me in the middle of ESPN's podcast.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's so nice to be somewhere where you can have intelligent debate.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And I hope you thought that we brought that to you last year.

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I also, you know, I want to thank Patrick for that.

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to thank Nikki for the amazing friendship that we have managed to develop.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, I want to thank Simon for producing the show, for being just the world's most efficient producer who put his heart and soul into creating this.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And I really, really wish that we could continue this.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And I hope that this is not the end forever.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I also mostly want to thank you guys much like Nikki and to all the friends that we created.

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_00]: There is Jill, just Jill.

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, there's so many of you, so many of those Patreons.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: There is Misak who would always come in with a question that I found so fascinating.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And Max, who seemed very sad that we were ending this podcast.

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, I cannot go through all of you, but believe me when I tell you that your messages from Tom Downs to Josh, they meant a lot to us.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They really did.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for being on board with this journey.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It's been so fun for us and you will still be able to catch Nikki and obviously Patrick and all their works.

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Just from my point of view, I will still be covering Italian football.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll still be on BBC EuroLeague's podcast and various all their Champions League shows on Radio 5 Live.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I will also be doing a lot more Premier League action this season.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And there'll be a show with Kelly Cates and Rian Wright on Monday morning that I will be a part of and various other shows, including a documentary that we've done about Chelsea legends with Roberto Di Matteo.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So I hope you look out for that.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_00]: More importantly, I will be working between here and the Middle East because Saudi football is taking off and Paolo Di Balla might be arriving there any day soon.

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully I will be able to cover all of those stories as well.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted a new experience.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted a new challenge and being able to see how football is emerging in that region and it's something that I wanted to be a part of, especially because as many of you know, I am indeed my father is Arabic.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, thank you so much for being part of this.

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to drag this out.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: You know me, I can talk for another 10 minutes.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for coming along with this and hopefully we will be back and you can always catch me on Twitter doubting the likes of Raphael Léa.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm joking.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And and of course, sending nostalgic tweets about Max Allegri.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: He will always be my hero.

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much to you guys.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Love you lots over and out.