Alternative Colchester Podcast By Steve Green & Tim Young cover art

Alternative Colchester

Alternative Colchester

By: Steve Green & Tim Young
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Alternative Colchester is where football rivalry meets punk rock passion.


Join Tim Young (Labour councillor, former Colchester mayor, and die hard Ipswich Town fan) and Steve Green (Special Duties founder and long suffering Colchester United supporter) as they prove that two blokes who disagree about football can agree that 1977 changed everything.


They were both in the room when Stiff Little Fingers supported Tom Robinson Band at Essex University in 1978 - they just didn’t know it until 2023. Now they’re bringing that shared punk spirit to the airwaves with fierce football debate, classic tracks from 1976 -1980, and the kind of authentic banter that can only come from forty-plus years of living the life they’re talking about.


One show. Two teams. Five decades of passion. No nostalgia without nuance. This is Alternative Colchester - because like the best punk songs, local football deserves to be loud, honest, and impossible to ignore.

© 2026 Alternative Colchester
Music
Episodes
  • Alternative Colchester #6
    Mar 20 2026

    Episode 6 of Alternative Colchester sees your hosts Steve Green and Tim Young back in their natural habitat — no guests, no frills, just two mates with strong opinions, a pile of classic punk singles and plenty to say. The football chat is as passionate and unfiltered as ever, with the latest Colchester United and Ipswich Town fortunes dissected in forensic detail alongside the customary "friendly" rivalry banter, delivered with the kind of impartiality you'd expect from this show, which is to say, none whatsoever. There's wider football chat too, covering whatever has caught Steve and Tim's eye across the game that week and with input from producer Luke, another tractor boy!! The music, as always, is absolutely on point, with a cracking selection of punk classics from 1976 to 1981 including tracks from The Unwanted, The Stiffs, The Vibrators, Chelsea, The Shapes and inevitably and gloriously, Stiff Little Fingers. Episode 6 is warm, funny, opinionated and completely unpretentious. Just two blokes who love their football clubs and their punk rock, doing what they do best.

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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Alternative Colchester #5
    Mar 6 2026

    In Alternative Colchester episode #5 we're joined by actor, comedian and punk rock fan Tony Gardner. Best known as Brian Johnson in My Parents Are Aliens, Michael in Lead Balloon and Professor Shales in Fresh Meat, Tony has also appeared in Last Tango in Halifax, The Thick of It, Midsomer Murders and much more — oh, and he's a qualified GP. Multi-talented doesn't cover it. But Tony's here because he's one of us: a Colchester United fan, classic punk lover, and a man of impeccable if slightly tragic taste who also supports Manchester United. We won't hold that against him. The show is packed with listener requests, Colchester United and Ipswich Town banter, a cracking punk playlist featuring Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, The Adicts, Vice Creems and many more, plus the usual dose of Monty Python absurdity. Whether you're a Col U fan, a Tractor Boy, a punk purist or just someone who knows Inflammable Material is one of the greatest albums ever made — Episode 5 has something for you.

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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • Alternative Colchester #4
    Feb 20 2026

    Joining Steve Green and Tim Young in this week’s episode is David Philp of Automatics fame. David has lived in Los Angeles since the early 80’s and Steve was visiting him so it made sense for Tim and producer Luke Fitch to record as usual from the University of Essex media department in Colchester and hook up with Steve and David in LA. The wonders of modern technology hey!

    This episode of Alternative Colchester is an extended one in order to find out what David is doing musically these days and to hear stories of his time in London in the late 70’s. It is 48 years since the classic, Steve Lillywhite produced “When The Tanks Roll Over Poland Again” was released on Island Records and although we touch on that of course, we also discuss their brand new “Britannia” album which is available now on splatter coloured vinyl via Label 51.

    Also in this episode are the usual 10 punk nuggets from 1976-1980, Col U and Ipswich football banter and even a bit of cricket thrown in for good measure.

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    1 hr and 28 mins
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