Off The Ball Official Thread <Mod Note - Post #1, #533, #6651>

Ciaran

Fits Morris wrote: »

They clearly won't be able to continue using any segments which refer in any way to the departed members of the team.

If that means the loss of those incredibly annoying Vincent Brown/Joe Duffy jingles, it'll at least be some small plus point to them leaving.

ballsymchugh

dvcireland wrote: »

Danny Baker reacts to the bad news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMPCgzHjd_E

i prefer this one, where he tore into them from the start on air!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E75YDB6Q5BI

Rekop dog

There is zero parallels with the Danny Baker axeing here.

dr ro

it be nice to see them get their 6-9 slot somewhere else and obliterate hook in the ratings.
Don't think they would work as well on t.v. Being able to do something else while listening is the key to that time slot, like watching a match with the sound off, as mentioned.

BertMark

I expect they'll move as a group when an opening at a major outlet comes up, which it surely will. RTE won't have to think too hard to realise the gift that has fallen into their lap.

That or they go it alone - do internet radio and podcasts with total control over their output. They already have the fanbase and contacts to instantly succeed.
If anything it would be better than the radio show as they'll be their own bosses and editors.
Plus they can keep all that juicy ad revenue for themselves.

dvcireland

Rekop dog wrote: »

There is zero parallels with the Danny Baker axeing here.

correct.
I was thinking along the lines of today's disappointment been a bit like how I felt when Danny Baker got the boot from BBC Radio 5's "606" show many years ago.

kumate_champ07

TV3?

shane.

BertMark wrote: »

I expect they'll move as a group when an opening at a major outlet comes up, which it surely will. RTE won't have to think too hard to realise the gift that has fallen into their lap.

That or they go it alone - do internet radio and podcasts with total control over their output. They already have the fanbase and contacts to instantly succeed.
If anything it would be better than the radio show as they'll be their own bosses and editors.
Plus they can keep all that juicy ad revenue for themselves.

there is 0% chance of them being on rte radio, not going to happen!

uRbaN

It's a strange one....I don't believe they would quit their jobs without having an immediate contingency. It just isn't done.
They either have an offer or a promise of an offer (which is hard to envision based on the alternatives out there) or they felt the other side would backtrack once they saw how serious the lads were.

Either way its a serious attention grabber. I like Ger Gilroy & Joe Molloy and hope the show will maintain regardless...

Meathlass

I presume the sudden departure is due to gardening leave rather than them storming out in a huff.

Will really miss the lads. They made the long commute and gym so much more bearable

themont85

BertMark wrote: »

I expect they'll move as a group when an opening at a major outlet comes up, which it surely will. RTE won't have to think too hard to realise the gift that has fallen into their lap.

That or they go it alone - do internet radio and podcasts with total control over their output. They already have the fanbase and contacts to instantly succeed.
If anything it would be better than the radio show as they'll be their own bosses and editors.
Plus they can keep all that juicy ad revenue for themselves.

Someone elsewhere made the point earlier that this is the opportunity for an Irish Times or the likes to get some good online content to their website with newspapers continuing to decline. It would be a departure for the IT alright but an area the Times needs to look at imo. Expensive risk, however.

ballsymchugh

Rekop dog wrote: »

There is zero parallels with the Danny Baker axeing here.

true, it's just funny though.

Urban is right. they regular presenters may have left, but there's still an excellent 3 hour sports show on 4 nights a week called off the ball. we were all used to the shenanigans for the past few years, but it'll take time for the new team to gel properly, if this is the regular team.
off the ball was around before them, and it will be around after them.

rafi bomb

shane. wrote: »

there is 0% chance of them being on rte radio, not going to happen!

What makes you say that? You saying 0% is basically talking out of your hoop

J. Marston

P_1 wrote: »

Talksport @ 3/1 looks like a cracking little bet to take

I can't see them at Talksport. The OTB lads had opinions about sports and the majority of Talksport seems to be scripted stuff designed to wind up people up for calls and texts except maybe Hawksbee and Jacobs who I think are good.

I can't imagine McDevitt, Ken or Murph doing the same type of crap as Adrian Durham, Darren Gough, Mark Saggers or Mickey Quinn.

BertMark

themont85 wrote: »

Someone elsewhere made the point earlier that this is the opportunity for an Irish Times or the likes to get some good online content to their website with newspapers continuing to decline. It would be a departure for the IT alright but an area the Times needs to look at imo. Expensive risk, however.

That could certainly be a possibility. It's expensive to hire that level of staff but someone like The IT could sound out potential advertisers and fairly accurately gauge their revenue. OTB is a show that makes more than it costs (costs are wages only pretty much) so a daily podcast on another site could potentially work.

BertMark

shane. wrote: »

there is 0% chance of them being on rte radio, not going to happen!

How in God's name do you figure that one?

Someone else suggested they might go to Joe.ie, that's a 0% chance.
RTE on the other hand is probably one of the most likely outcomes.

Can't see Talksport happening. An English radio station isn't going to put on an all Irish show.

shane.

BertMark wrote: »

How in God's name do you figure that one?

Someone else suggested they might go to Joe.ie, that's a 0% chance.
RTE on the other hand is probably one of the most likely outcomes.

Can't see Talksport happening. An English radio station isn't going to put on an all Irish show.

i just know

opinionatedfan

shane. wrote: »

i just know

so what will happen?

shane.

opinionatedfan wrote: »

so what will happen?

all i know is rte radio is a no go

Crea

Can't believe they were looking to start the show at 6. There is no way that RTE would let them take an hour out of drivetime so will they be moving to RTE to do the same hours? Doesn't make sense.

romperstomper

RTE have more than one station. the lads can start @ 6pm or whatever time they like on one of 2 dozen stations that RTE runs.

ballsymchugh

romperstomper wrote: »

RTE have more than one station. the lads can start @ 6pm or whatever time they like on one of 2 dozen stations that RTE runs.

how many people have DAB radios at home yet? it hasn't taken off that well just yet.
even at that, what other station would they suit? the DAB stations are fairly specialised, unless we're about to see RTE launch an equivalent of 5live??

rafi bomb

Crea wrote: »

Can't believe they were looking to start the show at 6. There is no way that RTE would let them take an hour out of drivetime so will they be moving to RTE to do the same hours? Doesn't make sense.

You really think its just about that do you? No way is it just about that.

delta_bravo

I loved otb it was a great show but some people here think this show was a prime slot for newstalk. It only ever got around 40-50k listeners maximum and they would not have had as much scheduling influence as a result of that. I'm sure the lads will all go on to do well but the idea the show can be picked up and copied verbatim on another station with the same staff is probably not going to materialise. A few people mentioned Tv shows- very unlikely the show revolved around journalists and athletes ringing in and a few coming in studio. This wouldn't work on tv. Unfortunately I think that's it for now from them as a whole

ballsymchugh

super_furry wrote: »

A couple of rumours doing the rounds that all may not be well between the Off the Ball lads and management. Tonight's show could be very, very interesting....

where did these rumours start? how many insiders are contributing to this thread?!

Fannyhead

Ken Burly. That was a classic.

themont85

Just saw there Murph sarcastically tweeting yesterday morning that he'd be asleep by the time the show starts in response to someone saying how early he was up. How little we knew.:(

Ah and just noticed the Off the Ball twitter handle is no longer @SecondCaptains bah

Imhof Tank

Here's the party line from the Indo

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/door-still-open-for-off-the-ball-presenters-despite-mass-walkout-29108504.html

"The door is still open" = read: come back as a contributor Ken

heybaby

This doesnt make sense at all. Newstalk breakfast confirming newspaper reports that the Off the Ball lads approached Newstalk management last year about moving the show to an earlier timeslot of 6pm and eventually a 5pm slot. Apparently the Off The Ball lads blinked first when demands werent met and they resigned en masse, taking their twitter account @secondcaptains with them, its been deleted. I cant understand why they would walk away from an award winning show that has been so well respected and popular after running it for ten years. Theres no doubt they could have pulled in more than their 39,000 listeners had they moved to an earlier slot but is it not completely counterproductive to walk away because they didnt have demands met ? or is there more to this story ?

Alpha Dog 1

Sad to see them gone.
They were the Waynes world of sports programmes.
Really hope they return as a team on another show.