Our Patreon club members got a nice surprise yesterday evening when a bonus podcast episode dropped into their feed. Not any old bonus pod either, this was a 51-minute interview Mike had yesterday with All-Ireland winning Mayo manager Andy Moran at a Mayo GAA post-final press event that was held at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.

I know I’m biased but I’m struggling for the right superlative to do justice to this interview. Andy is, as you might expect, superb on it – he’s happy, he’s thoughtful, he’s reflective, he’s impossibly positive.

His insights are revealing too, like when he says he was far more nervous on the morning of the Cork and Louth matches than he was on All-Ireland final day. Or when he says that Croke Park is his favourite place in the whole world.

I’d been doing well the last few days, having not broken out in a fit of post-Sam sobbing since at least last Saturday. But then the interview gets to the point where Andy, referencing Jack Coyne’s victory speech in the Lower Hogan, speaks about how, during a house move a few years ago, he stumbled on the All-Ireland final captain’s speech he had written but never got to deliver.

Passers-by on Griffith Avenue this morning looked a bit startled, assuming perhaps that my pet budgie had passed away (Note: there is no such budgie). Blast you anyway, Andy, I was nearly back to my old truculent self – now it’ll be a few days before the waterworks let up again.

This podcast gem is but one of the shows we have for club members this week. We’re literally chucking them off the wagon day after day right now.

Mike has another one-on-one interview in the bag and ready to go, which is with our old podcast mucker and now All-Ireland winning coach, Colm Boyle. We’ve another club championship pod, featuring voices from the club championship over the weekend, due out tonight and Mike is cooking up another interview with a player from the team that captured the Sam Maguire, which will be out in a few days.

And don’t forget that, aside from our pods previewing and reviewing all of the weekend’s club action, we had another show last week, in which Mike sat down for a super, in-depth chat with James Carr. This is another wonderful interview, in which the Ardagh native opens up candidly about the vital but largely unseen work he and the other members of the squad who weren’t in the match day panel did to aid the collective push for Sam and the joy he felt, as a junior club footballer, in coming back on the bus to Ardagh with the precious silverware.

The columns keep coming too. Rob’s been away for a well-deserved break but he says he’s cooking up ideas for his latest one. That’ll be out later in the week. While our Patreon club members get early access to our columns, all of our back catalogue is being made available for free here on MFT as well.

What can you buy nowadays for €52 (plus VAT)? Very little is the answer but that amount provides you with a full year’s subscription to all our MFT audio and written content. Our club is expanding very rapidly right now but there’s room for everyone in this establishment. If you fancy joining us, you’ll find the details on how to do so here.