Newstalk's Off the ball show

heybaby

Just wondering what everyone thinks about Newstalks Off the Ball programme? I'm not a huge fan of newstalk generally, but as sports programming goes Off the ball has got to be the best on Irish radio. All of the lads that put the show together seem to have a passion and depth of knowledge for their subject matter be it soccer, gaa, rugby, sports stateside or whatever and they are supported by contributors from Gilesy to gerry thornley amongst others. The line of questioning is always intelligent and informative. Any thoughts?

mayordenis

I am pretty much a huge fan of newstalk so maybe i'm slightly biased but I think it's the best show of any kind on irish radio.

Could go on and on but i'm too lazy, great show.

Xavi6

Ken Early is the most pretentious wanker on Irish radio and knows a lot less about football than he thinks. The News Talk website describes him as a 'shock jock' so basically he's a Dunphy wannabe.

Other than him it's a fantastic show.

keane2097

I always enjoy it tbh...

The Muppet

I agree with the op, I enjoy the show.

FlutterinBantam

Small doses lads small doses, couldn't put up with the bad pronunciation,grammar ,diction,accents for too long,wear a body out so it would. There are just so many times I can listen to guy saying "Foohhball" iso "football" before I get the urge to cant the tranny into the next 'burb.

Agree with previous poster about Ken Early, shock jock!!! my nut brown...

Only thing that guy would shock with his delivery and speaking voice is a three legged dormouse who strayed on to the control panel.

Has potential for the time of evening though

Ham'nd'egger

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Small doses lads small doses, couldn't put up with the bad pronunciation,grammar ,diction,accents for too long,wear a body out so it would. There are just so many times I can listen to guy saying "Foohhball" iso "football" before I get the urge to cant the tranny into the next 'burb.

Agree with previous poster about Ken Early, shock jock!!! my nut brown...

Only thing that guy would shock with his delivery and speaking voice is a three legged dormouse who strayed on to the control panel.

Has potential for the time of evening though

More along my thinking is Mister Bantam. There is a lot of sloppy work on the show; cut it down by an hour a night and it will sound a hell of a lot tighter though some of the bad diction may just be a change of pace from the normal talk cycle.

keane2097

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

There are just so many times I can listen to guy saying "Foohhball" iso "football" before I get the urge to cant the tranny into the next 'burb.

This sentence made my brain bleed!

Can you rephrase or explain or something..!?:)

spank_inferno

far from a perfect show but If i'm out on the road in the evening its the only option I go for.

I dislike the "off the ball - Extra" on a friday. Is it just a repeat show?

themont85

spank_inferno wrote: »

far from a perfect show but If i'm out on the road in the evening its the only option I go for.

I dislike the "off the ball - Extra" on a friday. Is it just a repeat show?

Nah its on for 2 hours live down from the original 3 it was a few months ago when it was plain old OTB. How it can be described as 'Extra' is beyond me.

Profiler

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ken Early is the most pretentious wanker on Irish radio and knows a lot less about football than he thinks. The News Talk website describes him as a 'shock jock' so basically he's a Dunphy wannabe.

Other than him it's a fantastic show.

Ken...Ken... Ken... first up, get a hairciut, you look like a bag of ripped out knitting.

Now I'm not sure if Ken's problem is a result of Newstalk's push to be the Sun newspaper of the Radio world (appeal to the lowest common denominator and you will normally just get by) or if it is just a flaw in him.

However he falls into the trap of the bog standard tabloid hack in that he dresses up poorly thought out ideas as "fact"

Moreover the show in general tends to stray far too often into the "drama queen" approach. Lets be controversial, because that gets people annoyed and some get annoyed enough to text in (for 30 cent) as a retort.

The thing is, I think the show it's self could be great, and that is becuase they have some top quality regular contributors and sometimes the odd fantastic guest.

However I fear that the producers of OTB are not good enough and the owners of Newstalk themselves have chosen a path that requires truth in what is reported as a happy coincidence rather than a deliberate intetion.

Dub13

Yea its a good show,I cant stand it in the GAA season but other than that its great.Its a shame they cut it back to 4 days a week.

humberklog

Love it. Bold programming proved effective by assembling a quality team.
I don't like all the sports covered, I don't always like every host and I don't always agree with the sentiments of the hosts or guests. That's a good sign.
I like the mixing of regional/social accents and I think the errors in grammar and pronunciation only add to the distinction of flavour of this show from any other show.

Funny, entertaining, irreverent and informative to boot.

P.S A radio presenters hairdo wouldn't annoy me.

Stylo

Like a lot of other radio shows, it's got a lot of good things going for it ..... and a few bad things too - but if the producers are reading this CAN YOU PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CHANGE THE SIG TUNE - we've had it now for about 2-3 years and it's tired - in fact I'M tired of listening to it. It's past its sell by date and it's simply lazy not to change it

Make the prog as good as it can be and give us a new sig - PLEASE

S

landmonster

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ken Early is the most pretentious wanker on Irish radio and knows a lot less about football than he thinks. The News Talk website describes him as a 'shock jock' so basically he's a Dunphy wannabe.

Other than him it's a fantastic show.

I couldn't possibly agree with this more. If he was even 10% as funny as he thinks he is he'd be the funniest man on earth. What a ****.

The Muppet

landmonster wrote: »

I couldn't possibly agree with this more. If he was even 10% as funny as he thinks he is he'd be the funniest man on earth. What a ****.

Do you know him personally ?

_blank_

Love the show.

I like Ken too, I like his deadpan delivery.

deadhead13

Whether Mcdevitt likes it or not, ken is the real star of "Off the Ball". Football players and managers pronouncements are overhyped banal drival which Ken treats with the contempt they deserve. For me , the "ken Early football show" is unmissable and should be reinstated to its friday night slot.

connundrum

deadhead13 wrote: »

Whether Mcdevitt likes it or not, ken is the real star of "Off the Ball". Football players and managers pronouncements are overhyped banal drival which Ken treats with the contempt they deserve. For me , the "ken Early football show" is unmissable and should be reinstated to its friday night slot.

Is that you, Ken?

For what its worth, I've been listening to OTB for 2 years now and find it really good. When it first started, I wondered how they would fill 15 hours a week with relevant sports news - but fair play, they did and it never really gets boring.

I've only really started to take an interest in the horse racing and boxing since I started listening in. Don with the tips and B-Hop with the quotes.. priceless :pac:

Xavi6

deadhead13 wrote: »

Whether Mcdevitt likes it or not, ken is the real star of "Off the Ball". Football players and managers pronouncements are overhyped banal drival which Ken treats with the contempt they deserve. For me , the "ken Early football show" is unmissable and should be reinstated to its friday night slot.

Lol welcome to boards Ken. You're a cock.

aassddff

Ken can you put up a photo somewhere? your a living legend, give FM 104 a shout and ask us for a job

FlutterinBantam

Ken Early !! the only man in Ireland who makes Dessie Farrell sound animated!!!

I'd pay good money to hear a conversation between those too, I reckon I would be in a fcuker coma in 15 mins.

Deadpan!!!

Dead!!

landmonster

The Muppet wrote: »

Do you know him personally ?

What has that got to do with anything?

Xavi6 wrote:

Lol welcome to boards Ken. You're a cock.

haha

deadhead13

connundrum wrote: »

Is that you, Ken?

No.

rochie16

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ken Early is the most pretentious wanker on Irish radio and knows a lot less about football than he thinks. The News Talk website describes him as a 'shock jock' so basically he's a Dunphy wannabe.

Other than him it's a fantastic show.

Why do some people translate "intelligent" into "pretentious". I personally think that Ken is the best radio personality in the country.

humberklog

Deadhead and Rochie sat under a bush.
Said Deadhead to Rochie I love you so much.
There's no one like Ken in the sporting arena.
Oh what a joy we meet in our mild schizophrenia.


(Ps I'm aware that split personality and schozophrenia are different but it didn't rhyme as well).

Quint

The show is the best thing on irish radio BY A MILE! I used to listen every night, can't now, but still manage to hear a good bit. Funniest show too! Eoin McDevett is a great presenter, way better than Gilroy. I'm not even a GAA fan, but I'd happily listen to their gaa coverage, they make it interesting, and funny. Murphs Country Pages is clearly the best 10 minutes of radio in europe.
I can understand people not liking ken. He must read football 365's mediawatch every day, cos most of his information is from there. But he works well with the show, and he does great interviews with players.

Xavi6

rochie16 wrote: »

Why do some people translate "intelligent" into "pretentious". I personally think that Ken is the best radio personality in the country.

Intelligent? Don't make me laugh. For example, I remember one incident off the top of my head when the man said that there were two Davis' playing for Spurs when in fact it was Sean Davis and Simon Davies. If he's gonna be such a cocky prick then he should at least be right.

raven136

was there anything like this on radio here before?No

are we sports fans better off with it?Yes

why do we always have to be bitching about things like this,sports fans of all types are well served by this show every week day and im delighted its on.Nfl,rugby,soccer,gaa and boxing all covered in depth and by very good outside pundits.

And before anyone says,is that you ken/eoin/murph or whoever in that really unfunny way people on this forum do,im not,i just enjoy it

Xavi6

raven136 wrote: »

was there anything like this on radio here before?No

are we sports fans better off with it?Yes

why do we always have to be bitching about things like this,sports fans of all types are well served by this show every week day and im delighted its on.Nfl,rugby,soccer,gaa and boxing all covered in depth and by very good outside pundits.

And before anyone says,is that you ken/eoin/murph or whoever in that really unfunny way people on this forum do,im not,i just enjoy it

Did anyone here say they don't actually like the show? I've not seen that anyway.

Get rid of Early and the show would be perfect.

Ol' Donie

Best Radio Show I know. By miles. Best sports show, on any medium.

What the hell is all the negativity towards Ken?

McDevitt is a quality presenter. Star of the show if you ask me.

The only thing i'm unhappy about is Off The Ball Extra on Friday. Bring the football show back, please.

Xavi6

Ol' Donie wrote: »

What the hell is all the negativity towards Ken?

More to the point, what is with all the new people signing up just to defend him? That's 3 in this thread alone.

There must be a lot of lurkers in the radio forum....

Ol' Donie

I'm sorry do i have to make a certain number of posts before i'm entitled to an opinion? Should've read the rules.

Not even sure if i did defend him personally. Maybe i should re read my post.

Xavi6

Ol' Donie wrote: »

I'm sorry do i have to make a certain number of posts before i'm entitled to an opinion? Should've read the rules.

No not at all. I'm just curious as to why it has taken the criticism of Ken Early for you to feel the need to sign up. People get slated every day so why him?

The Insider

Big fan of the show myself, have to agree with the above though Ken does my head in. If you ask me he knows fu** all about football not sure how he managed to land that gig.

Ol' Donie

Xavi6 wrote: »

No not at all. I'm just curious as to why it has taken the criticism of Ken Early for you to feel the need to sign up. People get slated every day so why him?

Truth is i don't spend much time on this forum (radio) - normally over at the video games bit. I signed up a couple of weeks ago, but never actually posted. This is my second time signing up to boards.ie (I had been registered as darnell13), and the name of the thread on the home page caught my eye because....I like Off The Ball.

That okay?

Incidentally, last time i signed up i got accused of working for Microsoft by someone who disagreed with me.

Jeez.

Xavi6

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Truth is i don't spend much time on this forum (radio) - normally over at the video games bit. I signed up a couple of weeks ago, but never actually posted. This is my second time signing up to boards.ie (I had been registered as darnell13), and the name of the thread on the home page caught my eye because....I like Off The Ball.

That okay?

Absolutely.

You have to admit though that three new accounts defending the same guy in the same thread is a bit suss! Hope you stick around though.

Incidentally, last time i signed up i got accused of working for Microsoft by someone who disagreed with me.

Jeez.

Lol you get things like that from time to time.

Pighead

Xavi6 wrote: »

Get rid of Early and the show would be perfect.

Get rid of Early? Are you mad man? He's fantastic. A man talking about the beautiful game in a beautiful way. Never resorts to mindless inane cliches which is ultra rare in the horrible world of football punditry. Very knowledgeable and he's pretty funny too. What more could you ask for?

Ah well, one man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. As a matter of interest which footie analysts do you like listening too Xavi?

Xavi6

Pighead wrote: »

Ah well, one man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. As a matter of interest which footie analysts do you like listening too Xavi?

My listening pleasures would include The Game podcast from the Times and the Guardian football podcast. The odd time I would listen to 606, depending who is presenting.

As I said, I love the show, just not Early.

Pighead

Xavi6 wrote: »

My listening pleasures would include The Game podcast from the Times and the Guardian football podcast. The odd time I would listen to 606, depending who is presenting.

As I said, I love the show, just not Early.

Fair enough Xavi6. You have the right to hate Earley. Getting worried about you though. Yesterday you told me that the MGMT song Pieces of What was average, today you tell me, Earley isn't great, tomorrow I fear that you will announce that Fridays are rubbish!

I can't take this anymore! We should take a break Xavi6.

Xavi6

Pighead wrote: »

Fair enough Xavi6. You have the right to hate Earley. Getting worried about you though. Yesterday you told me that the MGMT song Pieces of What was average, today you tell me, Earley isn't great, tomorrow I fear that you will announce that Fridays are rubbish!

I can't take this anymore! We should take a break Xavi6.

Sorry Pighead. Maybe a good dose of LMFM will get me round to your way of thinking!

Pighead

Xavi6 wrote: »

Sorry Pighead. Maybe a good dose of LMFM will get me round to your way of thinking!

Now ye're talkin! Ray Stone, we salute you!
http://www.lmfm.ie/presenters/presenter_detail.asp?pres_id=100068

Dave!

Good show, though I don't listen very often at that time.

Question though: do the regular contributors get paid? Like Gilesy is on Newstalk all the time... Newstalk make money off the fact that these people appear on the show (of course people don't just listen for Gilesy, but without all their regular contributors they might have less), and they give up their time to be on the show.

Do they get paid? Or is it just that if they have a book, etc., out at the time, they can plug it? Anyone with radio insight

rochie16

Xavi6 wrote: »

More to the point, what is with all the new people signing up just to defend him? That's 3 in this thread alone.

There must be a lot of lurkers in the radio forum....

May I ask how you deduced that we signed up just to defend ken?

FlutterinBantam

Pighead wrote: »

Now ye're talkin! Ray Stone, we salute you!
http://www.lmfm.ie/presenters/presenter_detail.asp?pres_id=100068

Ray McDonald!!!!

Is that geezer still alive???

deadhead13

Yes, I did sign up just to defend ken - so what? The fact that others did the same , I think says something. I would imagine of "Off the balls" 30,000 + listeners , Ken would have a large fanbase. Xavi6 isn't one of them - again so what?

Xavi6

rochie16 wrote: »

May I ask how you deduced that we signed up just to defend ken?

Ah come on it's hardly in the Sherlock Homes league to think that people making their first posts in this thread to defend Ken signed up solely for that purpose.

Seems I wasn't wrong -

deadhead13 wrote: »

Yes, I did sign up just to defend ken

Great to see he has a lot of fans though, even if I don't understand why.

mayordenis

feck it - I like ken early - he may need by the world's go-to-guy on all things football but he has an opinion and he actually voices his opinion over what the general media consensus often is.
And more importantly I find him entertaining.

The whole group work off eachother well which is probably the big thing for me - and you can't deny they have some absolutely great interviews.

ciaran76

Have to admit I like Ken Earley's football analysis. I know what some people are saying as I have mates who think he is too dreary and I know where they are coming from but I like the way he doesnt go with the SKY hype.

His commentary can be good too when he is covering a game.

FlutterinBantam

Dreary!!! Dreary you say!!!

That's not dreary son, that's comatose.

far too much smartassery and "in" jokes on that show to be taken seriously.

If you like the lad fair enough, but to some, including me he is a complete waste of space,dull ,boring,self satisfied,self indulgent and a poor analyst of soccer.

But everyone's entitled to an opinion,and the best of luck to him.

Lunar Junkie

I'll join with the Ken Early defenders here, I usually find myself laughing out loud several times during that show listening to his deadpan observations and sarcastic little impressions. Find it amusing to see from the comments here that he obviously rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. They have a good selection of analysts on every evening also, and I'd often find myself listening even with sports I'm not interested in if the speakers are engaging enough (e.g. the American sports guy). I do think the show was slightly better a couple of years back with Ger Gilroy at the helm, from what I remember they used to have a bit more time for investigative stories, mini documentary features etc..