Welcome back to another TTTONLF meets and this time we are sitting down with the two hosts of Cray Valley PM’s very own supporters podcast ‘Everything Green and Black Podcast’. Hosted by a married couple Chris and Dom the podcast provides a post-match breakdown for their fans as well as interviews with staff and players on a weekly basis. Operating completely independently from the club but with all the benefits of the club being behind the podcast, they are able to be totally honest and that is always a key attribute to providing content worth listening to!
Anyway thats enough from me, let’s hear from the duo!
Name – Dominique
Age – 43
Favourite team – Crystal Palace/Cray Valley (PM)
Occupation – Teacher
Thing I love about football – its unpredictability
My football pet hate – offensive chants
Name – Christopher
Age – 44
Favourite team – Newcastle/Cray Valley (PM)
Occupation – Electrician
Thing I love about football – The community and friends
My football pet hate – Football bragging over nothing
Q) What was your own introduction to Cray Valley PM — do you remember the first match or moment that really hooked you?
Well, I think it was just that we’d been talking about going to the club for ages and we just hadn’t. We’d lived here for years and years and years and kept saying, we must go, we must go and see local football.
So we went along and it was a cup game and the football was really good watching Kyrell was amazing really exciting, the football was really good and we were like wow this is on our doorstep. The people were really friendly, the bar was cheap and the kids enjoyed getting the burgers. I mean it is probably like a seven minute walk from our front door to the turnstiles so it couldn’t be better!
Q) How did Everything Green & Black first come about — what was the moment you both decided to turn your Cray Valley passion into a podcast? as there a gap or silence in coverage around the club that you felt you could fill with this podcast? What did you feel was missing in the conversation around Cray Valley?
So this was Chris basically, we’d been to Cray for a whole season and we’d really enjoyed it and had a great time. We then just sort of thought a podcast would be something to give the club really, as well as something to enjoy ourselves.
We listen to a lot of podcasts anyway, and we thought maybe it’s something we can do. I’ll be honest with you, I thought it would be like a very, very niche podcast. I mean, it is niche, but I thought it would be more niche than what it actually is. I just thought, do you know what? No one was doing anything currently at the club in that space so we approached the club and sort of said, look, how do you feel if I was to do this? And they were really open and really pleased.
Even if we would get like two, three people listening, let just see how it goes. What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll waste a bit of time on a Sunday morning. So be it. Turns out we love it!
What were your expectations when you launched — did you imagine it’d find an audience beyond just a few diehard fans?
No we didnt think anybody would listen to it. What we found very bizarre was the relistens as much as the initial ones.
We are convinced at times someone has pressed play and left the house!
We have seen some steady growth since launching the podcast, over the past season we had around 6000 listens which we were very happy with, as Cray Valley PM average around 300 every home game so those numbers are great for us.
The club have been great too – they have supported us from day dot, from the moment we started the podcast they installed hoardings around the ground with sponsorship for the podcast with a logo which they had designed for us which was incredible. They have also put our logo on the scoreboard and just give us general support.
They are keen for us to remain independent and that has been great for us that they support us but still give us the freedom to be totally honest.
As a married couple hosting a football podcast, how do your personalities balance or clash on-air? Who’s the tactician, who’s the storyteller?
Dominique – I am definitely the researcher, making sure we make as few mistakes as possible. I am by no means a football tactician, I just enjoy the games and read the programmes cover to cover.
Chris – I tend to make voice notes throughout the game as they are going on, I am also the one who makes the mistakes but nobody seems to mind too much.
You tend to find out who has listened to the pod as people will come up to me and point out any mistakes I have made!
What’s been the biggest challenge of working together creatively as partners — and what’s been the biggest joy?
The biggest challenge was trying to work out what the other one is doing. Sometimes one of us will want to jump ahead so staying to the plan is probably the hardest.
We actually initially thought that Chris would be the main host but we tried that and it just didn’t work, Dom taking over just worked as the story could be set out much easier and then Chris could chip in with his more detailed opinions.
The biggest joy is more that we now as a family have a football team that brings us all together – two of us are Palace and the other two are Newcastle so to have Cray is definitely lovely to have that common ground we can all come together for.
How do you decide what to cover each episode — is it match-focused, story-driven, or based on what feels important to the club and community at the time?
Yes!
We always try to highlight all community outreach projects and include that in the podcast. Alongside that we also have featured interviews with some of the squad which are separate from the standard post-match podcasts.
We also like to highlight other clubs activities – such as Lewes who pay their men and women the same. We try to touch on some of the things others are doing well (especially the food).
Have you had any standout interviews or episodes that really shifted how the fans or club viewed the pod?
There have been a few I think!
We interviewed Denzel Gayle who is the longest serving player at the club that was special. He just completely opened up and was so kind and genuine when we recorded it. It was a really interesting one as he was able to explain how some things are very much ingrained in the fabric of the club as opposed to just being management.
We also done a end of season podcast with two other fans who we are now good friends with outside of the club, the podcast definitely brought us together and also allowed other fans accept two outsiders into their world as we are giving up our time to help promote the club.
Do you aim to make the show appealing beyond just Cray Valley fans — or is that community core to your mission?
I think it is a bit of both, it is primarily a fan based podcast. We try to be fair in order for others outside of the fanbase to also tune in and enjoy.
We realise we are a very niche and we do it because we love the club and want to give something back to the club and the fans, if other people do listen then we are happy for them to.
Do you feel the podcast has helped bring the Cray Valley fanbase together?
People 100% talk about it – they always say “ooo that will be interesting to hear you guys speak to you on the pod”
We have had some people say they really enjoy listening which is always lovely to hear. We do know a few of the squad listen to us too as Tom Beere pulled me up on some of comments I had made on a previous podcast when we sat down to interview him.
I think more than anything else it has brought us into the fanbase, being new fans to the club it has allowed other people to accept us more and realise we are doing it for the right reasons and giving up our time to do this.
What’s been your proudest moment so far since starting the podcast?
The fact that players listen to it is massive and also the fact that management and the club as a whole support us and give up their time to answer questions for us and just push what we are doing in general is incredible.
If we had to think of one it would probably be that huge initial love and support we had from the club with the hoardings of the podcast was massive.
If you could sit down with any figure connected to Cray Valley PM — past or present — for an in-depth interview, who would it be and why?
That is a very tricky question!
Now Kyrell Lisbie was a huge player for us and his dad Kevin Lisbie also used to play for the club in the past – now you do still see Kevin down every now and then to support the club. It would be amazing to sit down with them both and talk to them as they have been amazing both for the club and also to touch on the fact that Kyrell started his journey with us whilst his father ended his with us so that dynamic and overall affiliation to the club would be really interesting to discuss.
Are there any new directions you’re thinking of taking the pod — live shows, video content, club partnerships, or guest formats?
Yes we are looking at filming the podcasts! We have a Youtube channel all setup ready to go so that is a big step for us.
Essentially just trying to jazz up the whole approach a little bit – potentially looking to use the Cray Valley media room which will be really cool – we have invested money into making the content we are creating the best we possibly can so always looking to branch out into new avenues all the time.
What would you say to other small-club fans thinking of starting their own podcast — what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
Just go for it – why not!
Biggest lesson we have learnt is making sure that you do your research and that you don’t worry too much about mistakes we make and it being too polished – keep it human!
Finally, where do you hope Everything Green & Black is one year from now?
An ambitious but we believe achievable goal is to double our viewing numbers this year. We want to stay true to ourselves and look to grow the podcast organically and we hope people can join us on our journey.
Listen to ‘Everything Green & Black’ on Spotify, Apple or Amazon !
Massive thank you to Chris and Dom for sitting down with me and looking over their journey they have taken so far – it seems they are both loving every second of not only following their joint club in Cray Valley but they are also looking to make a difference for the fanbase and the club as a whole by committing their own time in running the podcast week in, week out.
A huge well done to them both as podcasts are always something that seem easy to do but they never are – keep it up guys and keep enjoying the football!
Until next time!
Through The Turnstile of Non-League Football 
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