Our Aston Villa podcast Claret & Blue has won a prestigious national award

Our Aston Villa podcast has won a prestigious national award.

Claret & Blue was named the Best Sport Podcast at the Publisher Podcast Awards in London.

Head of Sport Mat Kendrick, one of the hosts and regular contributors on the podcast was in the capital to pick up the award on Wednesday.

Collecting the trophy, Mat used his acceptance speech to pay tribute to Dan Rolinson and John Townley and to thank listeners and viewers for "indulging our fun, nonsense and occasional bits of insight."

Claret & Blue, from BirminghamLive, beat off competition from podcasts including Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, The Bench with Jenna and Jon, also from Sky Sports, and fellow Reach shows The Everything is Black and White Podcast (Newcastle United) and The Welsh Rugby Podcast to pick up the gong.

In praising Claret & Blue, the judges said: “Great energy, clearly made by fans for fans with a real understanding of the team’s progress and prospects.”

It was also shortlisted for the Best Video Strategy award, but lost out to The Best Ever, a popular culture podcast from The Radio Times.

Since launching in November 2019, Claret & Blue has gone from strength to strength, charting Villa’s remarkable rise over the past five years.

Dan Rolinson, Reach PLC’s Midlands sport multimedia editor, is the creative driving force behind the podcast which has grown in popularity on YouTube, where it has more than 17k subscribers, and audio podcast platforms where it regularly features in Apple Podcasts top 25 football podcasts in Great Britain.

“We’re so proud to pick up this award,” said Mat. “Claret & Blue is a labour of love for us all and it’s an honour and privilege to do it, let alone achieving recognition from our peers.

“We try and capture the highs and lows of following Aston Villa and, although it's a cliche, pride ourselves on a fun and welcoming vibe like mates chatting down the pub.

"Big thanks to Dan Rolinson for the energy and creativity he puts into the podcast, along with our Aston Villa writer John Towley, who brings astute, measured insight.

"My role is mainly to crack bad dad jokes, offer up tenuous analogies and reminisce about blasts from the past, but together the blend of us seems to work.

"There's also lots of other 'helpers' who are making us thrive including fellow fans Frankie Maguire, Rob Warner, Matt Lynch, Neil Dunworth and Dan Bardell, along with our old favourites and best mates Ashley Preece and James Rushton.

"This year, inspired by Aston Villa actually being quite good, Claret & Blue has kicked on even more. We love doing it and long may it continue."

As well as pre and post match shows and topical discussions, Claret & Blue prides itself on chatting to former Villa favourites.

Guests including ex-bosses Ron Atkinson, Brian Little, John Gregory and Martin O’Neill have featured, along with players including Gabby Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, Alan Hutton and Martin Laursen.

A live event at Hockley Social, near Jewellery Quarter, took place earlier this month with Dan, Mat, John and guests taking part in a show in front of 300 Villa fans.

You can subscribe to our Claret & Blue YouTube channel here and find us on the audio platforms of your choice here.