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

Did you smash it

Deleted User wrote: »

I know Johnny well, and he knows football very well. But I'm not sure he's all that interested in the Premier League and it probably shows. He's great on LOI football and horse-racing, two things he's genuinely passionate about. With regard to Twitter, he's not suited to the medium and I'm glad he's closed his account as he was always getting himself in trouble on it.

His knowledge of football seems bad. His analysis of Irish international footballers is either delusionally positive or overly negative. He tipped shamrock rovers as already having wrapped up the title when they had no goal scorer in their squad. He went on last season about Salah not doing it for Liverpool and should be dropped. He’s a poor analyst. The list of stupid opinions he has offered is long.

I enjoy him and Dan Mcdonnell together because Dan takes the piss out of him and a lot of stuff he says. Dan is a superb analyst.

Did you smash it

JeffKenna wrote: »

In a friendly.

Yes, in glorified friendlies they have beaten every strong Southern Hemisphere rugby nation in the world. They have beaten every northern hemisphere nation in the world in competitive games. They have lifted trophies and their players have been crowned as the best player in the world twice and they had two players in the rugby team of the decade.

Meanwhile our soccer lads haven’t had a champions league player in over a decade.

JeffKenna

Did you smash it wrote: »

Yes, in glorified friendlies they have beaten every strong rugby nation in the world. They have lifted trophies and their players have been crowned as the best player in the world twice and they had two players in the rugby team of the decade.

Meanwhile our soccer lads haven’t had a champions league player in over a decade.

In a sport that has 9 competitive teams they haven't got past the quarter finals of a world cup. No way would I claim they are successful based on that.

Did you smash it

JeffKenna wrote: »

In a sport that has 9 competitive teams they haven't got past the quarter finals of a world cup. No way would I claim they are successful based on that.

They are successful because they win trophies, hence they achieve success, hence they are successful.

Did you smash it

Did you smash it wrote: »

His knowledge of football seems bad. His analysis of Irish international footballers is either delusionally positive or overly negative. He tipped shamrock rovers as already having wrapped up the title when they had no goal scorer in their squad. He went on last season about Salah not doing it for Liverpool and should be dropped. He’s a poor analyst. The list of stupid opinions he has offered is long.

I enjoy him and Dan Mcdonnell together because Dan takes the piss out of him and a lot of stuff he says. Dan is a superb analyst.

Johnny has a stupid habit of coming out with daft and controversial opinions on things like the Rovers one etc etc. But I've been to games with him and he knows what he's talking about, can read a game, understand shape and pinpoint tactics being used etc.

I love listening to Dan and think he is the best thing about OTB at the minute, but I would not rate him too highly as an analyst and have always seen him as a big picture reporter who really gets the administrative and political side of the game.

Did you smash it

Deleted User wrote: »

Johnny has a stupid habit of coming out with daft and controversial opinions on things like the Rovers one etc etc. But I've been to games with him and he knows what he's talking about, can read a game, understand shape and pinpoint tactics being used etc.

I love listening to Dan and think he is the best thing about OTB at the minute, but I would not rate him too highly as an analyst and have always seen him as a big picture reporter who really gets the administrative and political side of the game.

These traits do not come over during the course of listening to him during the course of his job.

Dan might not be a superb tactical analyst. But he is truthful and his views are down to earth and he doesn’t get carried away on flights of fancy like Johnny, Dion fanning and other Irish soccer talking heads.

Did you smash it

Did you smash it wrote: »

These traits do not come over during the course of listening to him during the course of his job.

Dan might not be a superb tactical analyst. But he is truthful and his views are down to earth and he doesn’t get carried away on flights of fancy like Johnny, Dion fanning and other Irish soccer talking heads.

Agreed on Dan. You said he was a superb analyst in the original post, though.

RoversCeltic

Did you smash it wrote: »

Yes, in glorified friendlies they have beaten every strong Southern Hemisphere rugby nation in the world. They have beaten every northern hemisphere nation in the world in competitive games. They have lifted trophies and their players have been crowned as the best player in the world twice and they had two players in the rugby team of the decade.

Meanwhile our soccer lads haven’t had a champions league player in over a decade.

we beat the world champions in a competive game recentlyenough

cms88

Did you smash it wrote: »

They are successful because they win trophies, hence they achieve success, hence they are successful.

What trophies? THe tournament where one of the teams have won a grand total of 11 games in 20 years and haven't won a game since 2015?

Did you smash it

cms88 wrote: »

What trophies? THe tournament where one of the teams have won a grand total of 11 games in 20 years and haven't won a game since 2015?

:rolleyes:

It’s the annual rugby tournament to crown the best northern hemisphere nation.

I’m not a rugby fan. It’s too slow of a game with too much muscle over skill but only a fool would deny Ireland have not been successful at it after lifting the 6 nations trophy 3 times in the past 7 years.

JeffKenna

Did you smash it wrote: »

:rolleyes:

It’s the annual rugby tournament to crown the best northern hemisphere nation.

I’m not a rugby fan. It’s too slow of a game with too much muscle over skill but only a fool would deny Ireland have not been successful at it after lifting the 6 nations trophy 3 times in the past 7 years.

By best northern hemisphere nation you mean best team between the British Isles and France.

Did you smash it

JeffKenna wrote: »

By best northern hemisphere nation you mean best team between the British Isles and France.

Well if you think one doesn’t equal the other then that’s your own look out.

JeffKenna

Did you smash it wrote: »

Well if you think one doesn’t equal the other then that’s your own look out.

They do equal each other. That fact just shows how uncompetive rugby is.

Did you smash it

JeffKenna wrote: »

They do equal each other. That fact just shows how uncompetive rugby is.

Indeed but we win trophies at it and have players who have been crowned best in the world. Hence the media and the public take a big interest.

You might not like that but that is the bottom line.

Coillte_Bhoy

Did you smash it wrote: »

Yes, in glorified friendlies they have beaten every strong Southern Hemisphere rugby nation in the world. They have beaten every northern hemisphere nation in the world in competitive games. They have lifted trophies and their players have been crowned as the best player in the world twice and they had two players in the rugby team of the decade.

Meanwhile our soccer lads haven’t had a champions league player in over a decade.

If by "a champions league player" you mean someone who has played in the Group Stages i could name at least three in the last decade, nothing to get excited about but still....

Did you smash it

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

If by "a champions league player" you mean someone who has played in the Group Stages i could name at least three in the last decade, nothing to get excited about but still....

Ah mate, cillian sheridan and Jonny Hayes. And who else? Gimme a break.

cms88

Did you smash it wrote: »

Ah mate, cillian sheridan and Jonny Hayes. And who else? Gimme a break.

Are they not Irish players or something?

JeffKenna

Why is the Champions League even in this conversation. Trying to put down Irish players for not being successful enough in a competition that draws the best players from a 265m playing pool. Of course it's a lot easier for rugby players to play at a higher level when the playing population of rugby is about 1.5% of soccer's.

Did you smash it

JeffKenna wrote: »

Why is the Champions League even in this conversation. Trying to put down Irish players for not being successful enough in a competition that draws the best players from a 265m playing pool. Of course it's a lot easier for rugby players to play at a higher level when the playing population of rugby is about 1.5% of soccer's.

Ah yeah, we shouldn’t be dreaming of things like having an established player in the champions league in a decade. That’s for the superpowers like Albania, Slovenia, and Montenegro to achieve.

Jesus, I know Ireland is a small time football country compared to countries with similar populations like Portugal and Denmark but I didn’t realize we were smalltimers compared to Albania.

Brock Turnpike

I happened to catch some of tonight's show in the car. Was Ger Gilroy hosting from inside a giant lunch box? The sound quality was horrific. Is it usually that bad when he's hosting?

Happy4all

I tune in some Sundays because the paper review and guests can be entertaining.

Tuned in today and the two women presenters might just as well be having a personal conversation with each other. Sleep inducing stuff.

Piehead

Happy4all wrote: »

I tune in some Sundays because the paper review and guests can be entertaining.

Tuned in today and the two women presenters might just as well be having a personal conversation with each other. Sleep inducing stuff.

Sure you can’t bate an aul woke feminist OTB Sunday !

redbuck

What are the listenership figures like for OTB now?

I got out of the habit of listening during the first lockdown and resubscribed to Second Captains and rarely listen to OTB aside from the Saturday show which I always find entertaining.

redbuck

redbuck wrote: »

What are the listenership figures like for OTB now?

Off The Ball, 47,000 listeners (Down 7,000 Book on Book)

https://www.newstalk.com/news/jnlr-newstalk-is-irelands-second-most-listened-to-station-1100976

I wouldn't read too much into "Down 7,000", They have been around 50,000 for years. Sometimes above it, sometimes below.

Ahwell

Ahwell wrote: »

I wouldn't read too much into "Down 7,000", They have been around 50,000 for years. Sometimes above it, sometimes below.

I'm not sure Newstalk management or sponsors wold take such a benign view of losing 13 per cent of your audience share since May 2019. They were at 54,000 for a while. Shows live and die by these figures.

But I suppose they don't take into account people watching live online and podcasting. And it's probably inevitable that a sports show will be hit more at a time when there has been very little live sport to speak of.

generalgerry

Piehead wrote: »

Sure you can’t bate an aul woke feminist OTB Sunday !

They should have used the opportunity to carry out a sit in protest to against the fact that OTB has no front line female presenter. That would have been funny.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not sure Newstalk management or sponsors wold take such a benign view of losing 13 per cent of your audience share since May 2019. They were at 54,000 for a while. Shows live and die by these figures.

OTB is not going to die because one JNLR book has it at 47,000 listeners...and, as you alluded to, something has happened in the world since May 2019 that has had a big affect on sport.

Ahwell

Ahwell wrote: »

OTB is not going to die because one JNLR book has it at 47,000 listeners...and, as you alluded to, something has happened in the world since May 2019 that has had a big affect on sport.

Live and die was just a figure of speech. I think we agree, but losing that many listeners is still not good as in theory there should have been a lot more people with a lot more free time on their hands to tune in.

I would imagine the show will end up completely online at some point in the future.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Live and die was just a figure of speech. I think we agree, but losing that many listeners is still not good as in theory there should have been a lot more people with a lot more free time on their hands to tune in.

I would imagine the show will end up completely online at some point in the future.

I can't see that happening. We are talking about one book of figures. There is a time lag in JNLR figures. So the November figures are probably including the time when there was no live sport at all.

It might surprise you that at 47,000 it is still outperforming the second captains when they were presenting OTB, they used to get around 40,000. It constantly surprises me, because I much preferred the old crew. No accounting for other peoples taste I suppose.

redbuck

Ahwell wrote: »

I wouldn't read too much into "Down 7,000", They have been around 50,000 for years. Sometimes above it, sometimes below.

Consistency is good, they’re good figures.