About Us
In April 2020, Matt set up the Roar of the Lions UK blog, in an attempt to save his significant other from his persistent rants about the team. A couple of months later, ROTL expanded into a podcast and now boasts 7 co-hosts of the show and several writers.
ROTL is BY Lions fans, FOR Lions fans. We aim to support Lions fans here in the UK and across the globe, flying the flag of the One Pride World Wide community as high as we can.
Matthew Turner
Bristol
Founder, Host & Blog Writer
Matt originally started Roar of the Lions UK as a blog just before the 2020 NFL Draft. Since then he was joined by the rest of the crew for the Podcast.
Matt is also an accountant who supports Liverpool FC and lives in Bristol. He started supporting the Lions in 2009 since they had the number 1 pick in the draft.
Antony Fitzpatrick
Chesterfield
Podcast Co-Host, Blog Writer
Antony has supported the Lions since 2015.
"It's just the way of it, son. We all sell our souls sooner or later" - John Constantine
What Antony did not realise when selling his soul to the Lions is that it would start a long and bitter war between the positive power of the Honolulu Blue Kool Aid and the crushing reality of constantly drafting in the top 10. Some say only a Superbowl win will be able to help achieve inner peace once more.
Martin Birrell
Manchester
Podcast Co-Host
Martin originally became a Detroit sports fan having worked in Michigan during the summers of 2001-2003. He took a greater interest in the Lions following their 2014 season trip to London.
Martin is a vice-principal at a secondary school in Manchester and splits his love of the Lions with both Manchester United in football and Widnes Vikings in Rugby League.
Martin joined the ROTL podcast at the start and is the elder statesman of the group.
Ryan Fardon
London
Podcast Co-Host
Ryan has followed the Lions since 2007, watching them 11 times, including 3 wins in a row at Ford Field.
He started a group on Facebook called Detroit Lions Fans UK One Pride World Wide.
Ryan owns a corporate hospitality company, and is an Arsenal FC season ticket holder.
Ryan McCluskey
Bradford
Podcast Co-Host and Blog Writer
Ryan has supported the Lions for nearly 10 years and plays Football himself. He started at university and now plays at a national level.
Steve Collins
West Lothian
Podcast Co-Host
Steve lives near Edinburgh and is seasoned enough to remember the Barry Sanders era but not old enough to have forgotten the trauma of the Jim Bob Cooter years.
He is a feature writer and regular columnist covering the NFC North for the website NFL Scotland, and you can read his articles here. Self-described table tennis maestro.
His claim to fame is that he has seen the Lions win a game at Ford Field in the flesh - a rare sight in the last few years!
Tom Wilkinson
London
Regular Podcast Guest
A recent free agency signing to the ROTL crew, Tom found the Lions when he got more heavily into the NFL following the 2013 season.
Since then he has worked for an NFL team and the NFL internationally as a strategy consultant. He played as a defensive back in the British premier division and briefly with the Great Britain team before injuries (and a lack of talent) ended his playing career.
Now you’re likely to find him on the golf course, or studying film of the latest college prospects ahead of next year’s NFL draft.
Ash Soden
Nottingham
Blog Writer and Podcast guest
A 2022 draft pick out of the University of Nottingham, Ash has more dad jokes than Bob Quinn had draft busts. He began supporting the Lions after being strong-armed by his school friends into joining a Madden Mobile league in 2014, choosing them as his team as he found similarities to his first love of Aston Villa and his hometown of Birmingham.
Since then, he’s gone to university and failed to make the American football team after an American scholar made him look silly by Odell’ing the ball when Ash was covering him as part of his try-out at FS. Now he’s set his heart on going to America to get his PhD while also trying out as a walk-on (or at least being able to go to a college game in-person instead of staying up till 5:30am watching a lagging stream to see his Noles smash LSU).
He is also taking bets on what happens first: the Lions winning a playoff game, FSU winning the ACC, Aston Villa winning the FA Cup, or him becoming a professor of Ancient History. Odds are currently in favour of the first option.
John Wallace-Howell
Nottingham
Blog Writer
John lives in Birmingham and became a Lions fan in 2014. Watching England cricket continuously lose the Ashes was great practice for following the Lions! A charity worker, he spends his free time watching an inordinate amount of sport and films; plays League of Legends in a spectacularly poor fashion; and regularly loses games of Warhammer. He also has a deep love of sports management sims and is our resident armchair GM.