The Huddle Breakdown 2.0

An introduction to the new Huddle Breakdown platform

I have been writing on my Celtic By Numbers blog for over eight years, and we have provided The Huddle Breakdown podcast for over four years.

In that time, I believe we have developed a loyal and passionate following of fellow spreadsheet shaggers, data nerds, and the curious who like to hear and read about Celtic matches, managers, players, opponents, and sometimes finances from a different perspective.

Over the years all that content has been free to air and ad-free other than when imposed by the platform provider e.g. Youtube. That’s been fine – I love what I do, it is a hobby that keeps me out of mischief, and I would do it whether anyone read/listened or not.

The sad loss of dear Enda Coll to an exciting new life in Australia also presented an opportunity to see how the offering could be improved and revamped.

James (@jucojames) and I share the same vision of a deeper, richer engagement with you. We also recognise that more content, organisation, commitment, regularity, and crucially, quality, come with more time and effort. Also, we need to source skills that neither of us possesses in production, post-production, and social media management.

After all these years, mainly thanks to your wonderful support and feedback, I have gotten over any feelings of imposter syndrome doing this stuff. I believe strongly that what we do is of good quality and worth your time.

We are therefore going to provide an integrated channel bringing together the podcast (The Huddle Breakdown) plus the written content (Celtic By Numbers, @jucojames, the Yorkshire Whistler reviews, player benchmark reports) and add new content (an additional weekly pod – The Huddle Breakdown Extra Time, game stat reports, stat/data primers, special features e.g. Lisbon ’67 by numbers, the Yorkshire Whistler audio review). Most importantly, we want to foster a sense of community amongst spreadsheet shaggers. Using collaborative social media create groups for asking questions, sourcing answers and good faith debate about Celtic.

It will all be hosted on a new integrated Substack.

To support all that, and to deliver it to a standard of acceptable quality does not come without cost.

Hence, we will introduce a tiered subscription offering.

The good news is that if you do not want to, or can’t, contribute anything to the channel the flagship weekly Huddle Breakdown podcast will continue to be free to air, guaranteed. Additionally, you will get the weekly Yorkshire Whistler verdict on the big calls.

In summary, the tiers will be:

NOTE these options are not yet enabled and you will continue to receive all the content free over the next couple of weeks. We will inform you when a decision on a subscription is required.

If you love the regular, flagship pod and this sates your appetite for data-driven analysis of all things Celtic then the first tier is for you.

If you want much more, and a deeper engagement with the world of spreadsheet shagging (!) then only a journey into Extra Time will satisfy your insatiable desire for numbers-based analysis.

The Founder Member category is a Substack construct to allow those willing and able to give a little more to show their appreciation.

I hope there is a choice available for all of you to continue along the journey of Celtic analysis with us.

Thank you so much for your support.

Alan (Celtic By Numbers)