This week's guest is Simon Hughes.

Simon covers Merseyside football for The Athletic, and is the author of several books about Liverpool including a trilogy of players’ stories from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. He has also written a social history of Liverpool city, titled There She Goes: Liverpool, A City on Its Own. The Long Decade: 1979-1993.

He joins us ahead of the Champions League final to discuss what it has been like covering this relentless Liverpool season, and gives us an insight into the true character of Jurgen Klopp along with what Liverpool have planned to keep pace with Erling Haaland’s Manchester City and where on earth Everton go next.

We discuss journalism, and what differs about working for The Athletic, and the city of Liverpool: why does it consider itself separate and distinct from London?

Simon’s picks were: All Played Out by Pete Davies; As I Walked out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee; 43 Years with the Same Bird by Brian Reade

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