The final episode of MOT begins back in January with the transfer window signing of Georgie Kelly, the top goalscorer in Irish football. It then cuts to the touchline at Gillingham with 11 minutes of the League One season remaining as Rotherham manager Paul Warne brings Kelly on for his Millers debut. Leading 1-0 but under heavy pressure, can the former Bohemians striker score a crucial second goal and fire his side back in the Championship at the first time of asking? After the full-time whistle, the manager spends time with his team, his wife, the fans, and with the Gillingham manager Neil Harris before boarding the bus for the long journey back to Rotherham and the difficult task of releasing players. The series finishes six weeks later as we catch up with both managers to discuss their respective summers; were they able to get any time off or did the managerial wheel keep spinning on their holidays? For Paul Warne there was the disappointment of losing two of his best players to bitter rivals Sheffield Wednesday during the break, and a never-ending series of phone calls; for Karl Robinson it was the possibility of leaving Oxford as a number of clubs made serious enquiries for his services. Before long, the pair are back in the dressing room addressing their players ahead of a new season.

In the penultimate episode, it’s all systems go for the final game of the season as Rotherham travel to relegation-threatened Gillingham knowing a win will put them back into the Championship. However, should MK Dons beat promotion rivals Plymouth and Rotherham fail to win, then Paul Warne’s exhausted side will fall into the lottery that is the playoffs. The manager goes to visit his chairman Tony Stewart to discuss tactics ahead of the game, before a scare at the training ground forces Warne into a tactical decision that could have a huge impact on the outcome at Priestfield. Ninety minutes before kick-off, Warne and his coaches look back to the last day of the previous season when a win at Cardiff would have kept them in the Championship, only to concede a late equaliser that relegated them. Then it’s time for the biggest speech of his life as he sends his men out into the Kent sunshine in the hope that his side will come off promoted. This is their Moment of Truth.

It’s halftime at the Stadium of Light and Rotherham lead by a goal to nil against promotion rivals Sunderland. Inside The Millers dressing room Paul Warne delivers a crucial speech to his team that he hopes will galvanise them for the second half, knowing they’re only 45 minutes away from promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. The second half is tight and tense and, at full-time, the manager reflects on a vital night for his side inside the now-empty stadium where once the great Monkwearmouth Colliery stood. Back in Oxford, Karl Robinson is mining for answers as to why his team fell short at the penultimate hurdle, missing out on the playoffs for the first time in three years. He gathers together his senior coaches – Wayne Brown, Leon Blackmore-Such and Craig Short – for a debrief into what went wrong, and what they need to change for next season.

There are two games left in Rotherham’s season and manager Paul Warne knows he needs a single win for his side to be guaranteed promotion to the Championship. But his team must travel to playoff-chasing Sunderland for a difficult Tuesday night fixture, which fills the manager with self-doubt. Not only that, he has to deal with the fallout from one of his players handing in a transfer request. Warne’s emotions are contrasted with those of his captain Richard Wood. In the late autumn of his career, “Woody” discusses what the manager means to him personally, and how difficult it would be for the club if he were to walk away in the summer. Ninety minutes before kick-off, the wives of the Rotherham coaches – Kerry Hamshaw, Tracy Barker and Rachel Warne – get together to talk about what it’s like to be married to a manager/coach, and how it affects their families because of the pressures of the job. The trio then watch on as The Millers and the Black Cats battle for a vital three points at the imposing Stadium of Light.

It’s crunch time for Oxford and Rotherham as they face each other in a critical League One match-up at the New York Stadium. Rotherham need a win to carry into the final two games and maintain their bid for automatic promotion – while, for Oxford, three points is an absolute must if they’re to continue in the race for the playoffs. There’s a reunion of sorts as Karl Robinson and his former MK Dons assistant – now the Rotherham assistant manager – Richie Barker meet up again on the touchline ahead of the game, before the two teams kick-off and the pressure mounts in what turns out to be a very even game. Issues in the crowd around the away bench become a focus for the authorities as abuse is hurled at the Oxford coaches, forcing Robinson to take it up with stadium authorities and the police as he threatens to have the game called off. After full-time, the two sets of coaching staffs meet in the Rotherham manager’s office for a debrief and a drink.

Despite the glorious afterglow of Oxford’s victory at Fleetwood, the club’s season is still in the balance. With three games left they sit eighth in the table, four points off the play-off places. With anything less than victory in their last three games spelling the end of Oxford’s season, Karl Robinson’s side must face his old team from Milton Keynes, where he and his family still live. In the moments before kick-off, Robinson is tense as he addresses his side. His pleas for them to stick together and play at their best, however, fall on deaf ears. The boss grows increasingly irate on the sidelines at the team’s lacklustre performance. At half-time he reads them the riot act, singling out individual players and tearing strips off them for their unacceptable errors and seeming lack of desire, which he says are costing the coaches and support staff their livelihoods. For Robinson, the match is personal. He was sacked by the chairman of MK Dons after six years at the helm and the ripple effects on wife Ann and daughter Jasmin were profound. In a fascinating portrait of family life with a football manager, Ann details how Karl’s ‘addiction’ to football saw them uproot their lives from Liverpool and nearly cost them their 18-year marriage. She says how much she dislikes “football Karl” as opposed to “husband Karl” and how difficult it has been navigating their lives alongside Karl’s job. The abuse the family has faced has particularly impacted Jasmin’s childhood. She suffered bullying at school over the performance of her dad’s teams and has learnt to avoid her dad after losses. Karl tearfully remembers the lowest point in his life after the death of his close personal friend Andy King, which drove Karl to the edge of despair. Back at the Kassam Stadium for the second half of the MK Dons match, tension is relieved by Billy Bodin’s late winner which keeps Oxford’s play-off hopes alive – and inadvertently helps Rotherham stay second, despite their defeat to Burton. The two sides will face each other next, in the following episode. Karl reflects on their victory over his former team. “It’s amazing how quickly things change in football,” he says.

As the season draws to a close, tensions in the Rotherham dressing room are starting to boil over after a 3-0 loss to Portsmouth. Manager Paul Warne is trying to dissect why his side is self-imploding having previously been top of the league. The post-mortem lasts half an hour before Warne has to address the waiting press. As night falls, Warne reveals that he’s considering his position and that this may be his lowest moment in management. He talks of the abuse fans have been shouting at him and how much he is dreading speaking to the club owner about the side’s performance. Sounding exhausted with how frustrating his job has become, he mentions how lonely he felt on the sidelines. Like Rotherham, Oxford have also suffered three straight defeats. They need to win each of their last four to give themselves any chance of making the play-offs. Rotherham need to stop a slide that’s seen them take just five points from the last available 21. As The U’s travel up to Fleetwood for the Easter Friday game, anything less than a win would be enough to end their season. The pressure, not only on the staff and players but their families, is beginning to show. Karl Robinson’s mum Carol talks about her own stress watching the games and how the abuse Karl has received from fans has affected their family. Despite the tension, Oxford takes a quick 3-0 lead and just manage to hang on to a 3-2 victory during nine minutes of stoppage time. The win keeps their season alive but at the cost of midfielder James Henry, who is taken to hospital for two hours of facial surgery after a sickening clash of heads. He will be lost for the rest of the season. Ahead of Rotherham’s fixture against Ipswich, Warne’s family are also feeling the pressure. His wife Rachel worries that her husband hasn’t been sleeping and dreads the abuse from fans if the side goes a goal down. In the tunnel, Paul says it is the most scared he has ever felt. Fortunately for the Warnes, Michael Smith nets a 78th-minute winner for Rotherham and favourable other results mean The Millers were now back in automatic promotion places – albeit on goal difference. For one night, there is relief. How quickly the picture can change.

Out of form striker Joshua Kayode is given reassurance from the manager about his performances but there’s bad news elsewhere as The Millers best player - midfielder Ben Wiles - apparently needs blood drained from his inflamed knee. Top goalscorer Michael Smith also needs an injection in his toe before the Pompey game if he’s to be able to play. Later in the episode, Warne discusses his relationship with the chairman Tony Stewart and Robinson does the same with his boss Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thanakarnjanasuth. Tony Stewart talks about the responsibility of running the club, the team’s wavering form, his own long term expectations and whether or not they include his current manager. At Fratton Park for the game Gilpin injects Smith minutes before kick-off and on the pitch The Millers go a goal down. The episode ends with Warne dishing out a scathing half time attack on his players and their dreadful performance. Can they turn it - and their stuttering season - around?

After two straight defeats at the business end of the season it feels like a do-or-die game for Oxford at home to Sunderland. The build-up to the match begins at the training ground, where groundsman/comedian Toby Rouss gives the lowdown on the mood around the club, how the players are bearing up, and then chatting with Karl about the Grand National, where his dad is a co-owner of the favourite. And while the season is very much alive, thoughts are already turning to the next campaign, and the need to organise some pre-season fixtures. We sit on a meeting with the manager, the head of sport sciences Harry Routledge, and the director of performance Chris Neville, who for many years planned England’s World Cup and Euros campaigns. It’s an intricate jigsaw puzzle of fitness loading and game time, with Karl calling respective managers around the league – but none in League 1 – to arrange friendlies. Then, as the gloaming settles around the training ground, the manager’s thoughts turn back to Sunderland and how his team will have to experience “some dark places within them white lines” if they’re to keep their hopes of promotion alive. Onto game day and we’re with the physios as they try to get battered bodies ready for battle, including a hot stone massage for midfielder Herbie Kane and his sore back. Then we’re with the manager in his office as he opens his mail and discusses the death threats he regularly receives as his staff watch the end of the lunchtime fixture in the Premier League. Thoughts turn to the Sunderland showdown. “If you get beat it can last for days,” says Karl, of the pain of defeat. “So it’s worth going to war for.” With minutes to go before kick-off Herbie’s back goes again and there’s panic and more vigorous massage before Robinson sends his team out - with Kane – to face the Black Cats. With minutes to go it’s 1-1. Oxford have dominated. A point is probably a good result given the fact that all the teams around them, including Rotherham, have either lost or drawn, when suddenly the Mackems break away in the 89th minute to grab a winner. There’s desolation in the dressing room. Robinson has to pick himself up as well as his team. “Trust in your talent and trust in each other,” he says, in an effort to reassure his team that no matter what, they’re not out of it. He finishes by saying what a dark night it will be for him.

As Paul Warne leads his Rotherham side out at Wembley in the final of Papa John’s Trophy, a few miles away Karl Robinson is pounding the capital’s streets, still seething from Oxford’s narrow defeat to Plymouth while he completes the London Landmarks Half Marathon. Two days later Oxford travel to Lancashire to take on relegation-threatened Morecambe, needing a victory to get their play-off bid back on track. But injuries to four key players leave Karl with a depleted squad to call upon. Ahead of the match, Karl and his assistant manager Craig Short reminisce over the old-school simplicity of coaching during their own playing careers, before the boss delivers an impassioned pre-match speech to his squad. But is his message getting through? With Morecambe’s keeper in inspired form, Oxford find their lowly opponents are no pushovers. Karl takes a detour to his parents’ house on his way back to Oxford and questions the mindset of the modern footballer during his post-match debrief. How can you create a team bond when your players would rather drink a protein shake than go to the pub?

Rotherham take on League Two side Sutton United in the final of the Papa John’s Trophy at Wembley, providing a welcome distraction for Paul Warne and his players, having won just one of their last five league fixtures. On return from the international break, the week prior to the final doesn’t get off to the best start. Head of Medical Stephen Gilpin reveals that first choice goalkeeper Josh Vickers could be out for up to nine months with a hand injury. After the team arrive in the capital for the final, Paul discusses his fears for the game and how, if they were to claim the fifth piece of silverware in their 96-year history, the feeling would be one of relief rather than joy. Paul shows his human side when discussing which senior pros won’t make the match day squad for the final, a decision he has chewed over numerous times in his mind, and one he can relate to as a player with no-one wanting to miss out on the opportunity of being involved at Wembley. On the day of the final, Paul delivers an emotional speech to his players in the hotel before they drive to Wembley. Will his Rotherham side handle the pressure of being favourites and lift the trophy? Time – or extra-time – will tell.

Some time away from the dugout allows both Paul Warne and Karl Robinson to recalibrate during the international break as the managers oversee their sides’ contrasting results. With Rotherham only winning one of their last five, Paul tries to grapple with his players’ poor run of form and the abuse that followed from the home supporters after a 3-0 defeat to Shrewsbury. And, as they head to the business end of the campaign, it appears the players are starting to feel the effect of having played 50 games in all competitions. Robinson, however, is on a high after only losing three times in 13 games. Forward planning is key as the team talk logistics ahead of trips to Plymouth and Morecambe, followed by Sunderland at the Kassam Stadium, all in the space of seven days. A trip to north Norfolk beckons for Paul and his best friend, Chief the dog. He discusses how just one day without the mental stresses and strains of football can be so uplifting for managers and players. Sadly for Robinson, he does not get the relief of a small break. He’s representing the current crop of Oxford United staff and players at the funeral of club legend Joey Beauchamp – who tragically took his own life at his own home in February.

On the eve of the last international break of the 2021/22 season, both Paul Warne and Karl Robinson were in a reflective mood, discussing their childhoods, footballing journeys and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Paul was a late bloomer as a player who went on to make over 260 appearances for the Millers before taking on the role as fitness coach and then manager. He also used to be a school teacher – something which he credits with helping shape his managerial philosophy. For Robinson, it was a very different path. He started coaching with Steve Heighway in Liverpool’s academy before working with former England manager Sam Allardyce at Blackburn and eventually taking over from Paul Ince at MK Dons as the youngest manager in the Football League at 29. Paul’s journey to becoming professional footballer is an emotional one filled with highs and lows. This is mirrored in the discussion with Karl, who has to pause the conversation to do something no first-team manager wants to and deliver a crushing blow to two Oxford youngsters.

In the opening episode we meet Rotherham’s Paul Warne, former club legend turned fitness coach and now manager, as he prepares his team for a midweek trip to Shrewsbury. We’re almost into March and Rotherham sit top of the table, nine points clear of second place, having lost just twice in their last 30 league games. And, even with star midfielder Dan Barlaser attending the birth of his child, Paul is contemplating resting three players with trickier tests on the horizon. This episode goes from the manager’s office to the dressing room as Paul delivers the news to those left on the bench hours before a rallying cry to his high-flying Millers. Mic’d up on the touchline, Warne is excruciated by a goalless draw that will foreshadow a difficult run for his men. At training the next day, Paul, his assistant manager Richie Barker and first-team coach Matthew Hamshaw reveal how all three of them struggled to sleep, what they watched on TV and how their thoughts were consumed by the previous night’s result. Fears grow that the players are beginning to hit a wall. With a tough fixture list ahead, how many points can the Millers afford to drop?

We meet Oxford manager Karl Robinson and some of the people behind the scenes that make the club tick: club groundsman Toby Ruoss, who is an MK Dons fan (Karl’s former club), and psychoanalyst Gary Bloom. Gary challenges Karl on whether he is obsessed with or addicted to football, leaving the manager to contemplate whether some addictions can be healthy. With a Covid outbreak threatening to dismantle the squad, the promotion chasers travel to a Shrewsbury side who held leaders Rotherham to a point in episode one. The game is decided on a late Cameron Brannigan penalty, before a touchline flare-up at full time. Afterwards, Karl shares intimate moments with his mum Carol, who stood behind her son and kicked every ball during the action – before also calling his dad. The conversations lead to him revealing the vulnerability he feels in his profession, underlining that – if you strip away the bravado and ego of a football manager within that small box in the dugout – there is a human being.

What does it take to be a football manager? We all think we can do it: pick a team to win a game, sign a couple of players who looked good on FIFA... I mean, we’ve all played Championship Manager right? The reality is very few people can ever truly master it, can deal with the torment, the anguish, the pain of defeat or even the blessed relief of victory. And what about putting their families and friends in the firing line of fans, the media and everyone else who has an opinion on how you do your job? For the last three months of the 2021/22 League One season, this podcast had unparalleled access to the life of a football manager as two teams battled to change their collective stories forever and win promotion to the Championship. From the dressing room to the training ground, the team bus to the technical area, Rotherham United’s Paul Warne and Oxford United’s Karl Robinson have worn microphones to record every single critical moment of the job during the tense and eventful run-in. You’ll get to eavesdrop on how the personal reality of football management is a constant gnaw of sleepless nights, skipping meals and missing out on family life. You’ll hear how the wives and children have to tiptoe around their disillusioned husbands following losses and you’ll isten in to how they rarely enjoy those hard-fought victories. Narrated by Jimmy Nesbitt, Moment of Truth is an audio experience unlike any other that will give you an answer as to what it takes to manage a professional football club. This podcast is a love letter to our greatest game spread across 15 episodes. It’s a rollercoaster ride through the footballing cauldron of League One where you get to sit on the bench of both teams as they battle to reach their Moment of Truth.