BBC podcast probes Sheffield FC's 2025-26 season amid takeover tussle
Sheffield FC's 2025-26 campaign is the subject of Mud, Sweat and Cheers: Trouble at the Bottom, a six-part BBC Local and BBC Radio Sheffield podcast released on 22 September 2026 that follows the world's oldest football club during a season marked by a tussle between a Qatari-backed venture capital firm and new chairman Jon McClure.
Founded in 1857, Sheffield FC is widely considered the world's oldest football club and is one of two clubs awarded Fifa's Order of Merit alongside Real Madrid; the podcast traces how the club, which helped shape the modern game's laws with the 'Sheffield Rules', found itself in the ninth tier during the 2025-26 season. Interest from Qatar dates back to a 2017 delegation and Yorkshire AI Labs, backed by money from the Middle East, had outlined plans for a 15,000-seat stadium and a football museum, while McClure became chairman in March.
McClure, lead singer of Reverend and the Makers, set out his limits in March on BBC Radio Sheffield: "This is not Wrexham. I'm not Ryan Reynolds. Let's get it clear, I'm in an indie band. I know my place in this world," and added, "I've taken a lot of advice from football people. I'm not a football person, and I won't be involved in football stuff." The podcast contrasts McClure's approach with the high-profile celebrity ownership path taken by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac at Wrexham, which the series mentions as a recent example of rapid progress through the divisions.
Alongside taking the club chairmanship, McClure has assumed control of Sheffield FC's women's team, who play in the fourth tier, and outlined ambitions that include a football academy, an eSports hub, a national football festival, a clothing brand, a visitor centre and a TV show, plus a desire to return the club to playing in the city where the game began. The series records McClure repeatedly stressing the club's historic importance and setting out commercial and community projects intended to support that aim.
Sheffield FC have played at the Coach and Horses Ground in Dronfield since 2001; the podcast records supporters' unhappiness with facilities, including one female fan describing the women's toilets as "disgusting", and McClure noting the original club site in the city is now a B&Q car park: "I think everybody wants the club back in the city, but there's only Sheffield that could invent football and build a B&Q car park on it." A programme caption adds McClure hopes the side will not be calling the Coach and Horses home for much longer.
On the pitch the club were pushing for promotion from the United Counties League Premier Division North at the back end of the 2025-26 campaign, and McClure tried to boost atmosphere by offering free entry to under-16s: "We're pushing for promotion. Obviously, we've got this under-16s come for nowt," he says. He described urging the youngsters to make more noise and striking a deal: "So I said, 'look, if you bring a drum, I'll buy you all a pie'. So I owe them all a pie. Well, a fair trade's no robbery, is it?" The initiative provoked mixed reactions from regulars, and the podcast records an announcement asking fans to "refrain from throwing drinks" after a supporter was drenched in lemonade.
Striker Alex Hardwick led the promotion challenge on the field while balancing another career: "I'm a design engineer here at the AMRC (advanced manufacturing research centre). I work in a design and prototyping building. I work on a range of different projects, which range from nuclear to automotive," he says. Manager Vill Powell says Hardwick "brings a different dynamic to the dressing room, in terms of his conversation, in terms of his banter, in terms of how he is in general", and the series includes family reaction with his grandmother: "I just love it. I enjoy it. I get disappointed when he can't get a goal," and his grandfather: "We encourage him all the time. I don't disappoint him. Marks out of 10? Yeah, I give him 9.5."
McClure told the podcast he wants greater recognition for the city's role in football history: "For far too long now this city has not shouted about itself. It's enough now," he said. "Now's our time to stand up and say this city's brilliant. "We invented this game, and this club invented this game, and we're going to celebrate that." Fans interviewed expressed similar frustration at a perceived lack of recognition: "if the first club in the world was based in Manchester, it would be all over everywhere. If it was in London, it would be all over everywhere. We do nothing about it" and "I certainly believe Sheffield Club should be held in higher esteem".
With the Club challenging to go up from the United Counties League Premier Division North at the back end of the 2025-26 campaign, McClure set a clear timeframe for his stewardship: "Judge it in a year. If it's not tangibly in a better place than it is now, come and see me at a match and discuss why you think that's not the case."
