'I hosted Soccer AM - now I go for pints with Neighbours legend Dr Karl Kennedy'
Max Rushden is probably the only person in the world who's been called a "mug" for not being Tim Lovejoy.
Rushden has swatted away the trolls to succeed two popular presenters during his career. He played a big role in turning a post-Lovejoy Soccer AM into the 'Glory Years' before replacing James Richardson as the host of the Football Weekly podcast in 2017.
That takes some doing, but the Cambridge United fan believes his seven-year spell on Soccer AM could've been a lot shorter. "If social media had been around and (if it was) as big as it is now, I wouldn't have survived in that job," Rushden tells Mirror Football.
"Not from personal point of view, but because I think a lot of people (criticised me). I was pretty wooden for a year or two because I'd never done live television and it was a bit too big for me."
Rushden was given the chance to be Helen Chamberlain's co-host on Soccer AM in 2008, a year after Lovejoy was briefly replaced by Andy Goldstein. Lovejoy had presented the show for 11 years and many fans believed it would be difficult for anyone to fill the void. Yet Rushden did so to become one English football's most recognisable broadcasters.
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Although the 44-year-old insists no presenter is indispensable, he now feels at ease with his trade and dealing with the chaos of live broadcasting. "As a broadcaster, if you feel comfortable and you think you're doing a good job... then you're totally fine.
"The stick, the abuse, the challenge - that doesn't faze me at all. I don't mind getting insults on social media, it really just doesn't bother me. I find it all quite funny - lots of people don't and that's a personal choice.
"I used to quote tweet a lot of insults and stuff, I tend to avoid that (now) because I don't think you need to give trolls oxygen and it's quite a toxic place that seems to be getting worse. Or I don't want to start a pile on on someone who might have said something rude to you, you don't know what their personal circumstances are.
"So I did feel the pressure for Soccer AM, but in the same way I felt the pressure for my first ever radio show on Radio Cambridgeshire on a Bank Holiday Monday in August 2002 or 2003 or something. I was just s******* myself, I was absolutely terrified."
Rushden co-hosted Soccer AM with Helen Chamberlain (Getty Images)Do you remember Max Rushden on Soccer AM? Let us know in the comments below!
Rushden left Soccer AM in 2015, with Sky cancelling the programme earlier this year. He soon found himself trying to replace another long-term presenter in Richardson when the Football Italia legend left to host The Totally Football Show, a new rival podcast.
There was a chance listeners could've deserted Football Weekly after Richardson's exit, but Rushden came in and ensured the podcast stayed high in the charts. Yet it was at lot easier for him to step into Richardson's shoes than Lovejoy's.
He'd already stood in for Richardson several times, "so the listeners knew me a bit". He also knew Guardian stalwart Barry Glendenning, the beating heart of Football Weekly, having co-hosted The Warm Up together on talkSPORT.
The pair have formed a "really natural" working relationship over the years, becoming radio's alternative to Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. Glendenning and Rushden even gave each other a 9/10 mark in The new Football Weekly Book, with the latter writing: "There is something deeply alluring about him that I can't quite explain."
Hosting the podcast is one of Rushden's favourite gigs. "It's such a joy to do... I'm really lucky to work on TV and radio and podcasts, and they're all very different. But thing about a podcast is people actively choose to listen to you.
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"If you're watching the Champions League in Australia, you're going to have to see me - you aren't tuning in for me. Presenters who start to think 'they're here for me' and not AC Milan vs Real Madrid will come a cropper pretty quickly."
Rushden and his wife Jaime have moved to Australia (Getty Images)Football Weekly is one of the most popular football podcasts in the UK thanks to its army of ultras. Rushden believes the podcast has plenty of loyal listeners because they "feel like part of a community".
Football Weekly's strength is its ability to provide superb analysis with a sprinkle of glorious nonsense on top. Rushden acknowledges this. "(We) start with the football, that's why people come, but I think people stay because of the personalities - not mine".
The podcast can sometimes be dragged into a tangent - such as when panelist Mark Langdon claimed he'd never eaten a vegetable - but it can also touch on some important topics. Episodes dedicated to the controversies surrounding the Qatar World Cup, Mason Greenwood's dropped criminal case and the ownership of Newcastle have been produced.
Rushden admits finding that balance between sprightly and serious can be "difficult" but insists: "We're capable of doing really smart podcasts... we feel like we can't avoid these subjects."
The presenter made the biggest decision of his career when he moved to Australia with his wife Jaime while she was pregnant in 2021. So much needed to fall into place for the move to happen. Stan Sport gave him the opportunity to host live Champions League coverage, while The Guardian and talkSPORT allowed him to work remotely.
There were other complications. Australia was still in lockdown at the time, forcing Rushden to quarantine in Sydney for work and his other half to go to her hometown of Melbourne. That left him anxious about potentially missing the birth of his child.
Rushden got his hands on a copy of The Football Weekly Book thanks to Alan Fletcher (Instagram/@maxrushden)The decision also needed to be made in around "15 minutes", such was the sudden nature of his job offer from Stan Sport. Yet it was an decision easy, as he'd always promised Jaime they'd move to Australia if the opportunity came. Rushden is "hugely grateful" to his employers and listeners for allowing that dream to come true.
"For me to be able to help her come back here... is the right thing to do. And to do it while keeping all this work is insane. I feel incredibly lucky."
Rushden also feels privileged to be part of The Football Weekly Book, which is filled with anecdotes from the podcast. It's edited by Jonathan Wilson, an author of several books. "He would insist on me saying buy all of them, (but) he doesn't mind if you read them.
"If you like the pod, you will love this book. If you don't listen to the pod, a lot of it will make no sense, so go back and listen to the last five years of the pod and then buy the book. It's very much for our audience, there's lots of in-jokes."
Rushden has only just touched a physical copy of the book thanks to "the biggest name drop you could ever give". "I went for a pint with Dr Karl Kennedy from Neighbours, who I now live in the same city as... he brought the book because someone had sent it to him."
Rushden met the fictional general practitioner, played by Alan Fletcher on the Australia soap opera Neighbours, on Soccer AM and radio shows. They say never meet your heroes, but that's not the case for Rushden. "I absolutely love Neighbours, I used to watch it twice a day like all students should."
The Football Weekly Book, published by Faber, hits the shelves on September 28
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