Guillem Balagué on Unai Emery's Aston Villa Revolution

Rise of the Villans: Inside Unai Emery’s Aston Villa Revolution(2025) is an acclaimed book by one of the world’s best football journalists, Guillem Balagué. We’re privileged to have Balagué to join us on the podcast to discuss his new book and Unai Emery’s career. We go through his tactics, methodology, man management skills, philosophies and also discuss the partnership with Monchi and why Spanish managers have been so successful in England through the years. This work is particularly interesting because instead of chronicling a superstar like Maradona or Ronaldo, in this book Balagué examines Emery whose qualities are perennially underrated and often misunderstood by football critics. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beyondthe90.substack.com/subscribe