By Far The Greatest Team Football Podcast
By Far The Greatest Team is a football history podcast dedicated to answering one timeless question:
Who is the greatest football team of all time?
From iconic dynasties and legendary tournament winners to cult heroes, forgotten giants, and teams that burned brightly for just a moment, By Far The Greatest Team dives deep into the stories that shaped football’s past — and debates where those teams truly belong in the game’s hierarchy.
Hosted by lifelong football obsessives, each episode blends deep historical research, tactical insight, and story-driven discussion to explore:
- Legendary club and international sides
- Iconic seasons, tournaments, and golden eras
- Tactical revolutions and defining moments
- Cultural impact, myth-making, and legacy
- Underdog stories that rewrote football history
At the heart of the podcast is a unique Greatness Ranking System, where teams are judged across multiple levels — from All-Time Greats and True Greats, to Cult Classics, Edge-of-Greatness teams, and those remembered through nostalgia, context, or controversy. Greatness isn’t just about trophies — it’s about impact, identity, and influence.
Whether it’s Brazil’s brilliance, a one-season wonder, a cup-run miracle, or a team that changed how football was played, every episode asks the same question — how great were they… really?
If you love football history, tactical debate, long-forgotten stories, and arguing about rankings in pubs, living rooms, or online forums — this is the podcast for you.
Whether you’re searching for a football history podcast, soccer history deep dives, greatest football teams of all time, classic football teams, or tactical and cultural analysis of football, By Far The Greatest Team delivers long-form storytelling, informed debate, and timeless football nostalgia. Covering club football and international tournaments, iconic managers and players, golden eras, forgotten greats, and controversial rankings, this podcast is essential listening for fans of the Premier League, World Cups, European football, and the global history of the beautiful game.
🎙️ Football’s greatest teams. Ranked.
One episode at a time.
By Far The Greatest Team Football Podcast
Arsenal 1997-1999
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How Great Were Arsenal 1997–1999? | Wenger’s Revolution Begins
How does a famously old-school English powerhouse become modern overnight — and, in the process, help change football forever?
In this episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham Dunn and Jamie Rooney are joined by Arsenal fan Andrew Walker to dive into Arsenal 1997–1999 — the era where Arsène Wenger takes a title-winning back four, injects new ideas, new habits, and new attacking rhythm, and turns Arsenal into the team that drags English football into a different age.
We trace Wenger’s arrival at Highbury, the scepticism that greeted him, and the speed with which he reshaped the club’s identity: not just tactically, but culturally. From training ground methods and nutrition to squad management, recovery, sports science, and recruitment, this is the moment football begins to look and feel different in England.
But this isn’t just about innovation. It’s about the football — the chemistry between Bergkamp, Overmars, Vieira, Petit, Adams, and the old guard; the rise of Nicolas Anelka; the run-in of 1997–98; the tension of the rivalry with Manchester United; and the season that ends with Arsenal lifting the Double.
We also dig into the wider context: why Arsenal felt like a hybrid side — old steel and new elegance — and how Wenger’s first great team laid the foundations for everything that followed, from Highbury’s tactical reinvention to the Invincibles.
This is where Arsenal stop being just a big club and become a football idea.
Takeaways
- Why Arsène Wenger’s arrival was one of the most important managerial appointments in football history
- How Wenger changed Arsenal’s culture through nutrition, training, recovery, and sports science
- The balance between old Arsenal resilience and new technical, attacking sophistication
- Why players like Vieira, Bergkamp, Adams, Overmars, and Anelka were so vital to the transformation
- The significance of the 1997–98 Double in redefining Arsenal’s place in English football
- How the rivalry with Manchester United sharpened Wenger’s first great side
- Why this era laid the foundations for Arsenal’s modern identity and future greatness
Listen / Watch
🎧 Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7erZQ9qQEsa2Xq8Rg843Gv
🍎 Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/by-far-the-greatest-team-football-podcast/id1678832405
📺 YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@ByFarTheGreatestTeam
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