Second Captains Part II

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121224989#Comment_121224989

To be fair, it is all over the coverage of American sports and it is interesting how it is being marketed.

Salvation Tambourine

Ken seems to have a regular slot on The Anfield Wrap's podcasts behind their paywall. Him and Neil Atkinson make a great duo. Discussed in depth about the referees going to the UAE. His knowledge of Liverpool and the history of the club would suggest he's a Liverpool fan.

If they ever release one as a free show I'll share a link here.

jones

Ken is (or should I say was) definitely a Liverpool fan. I remember from the early newstalk days being mentioned. I thought it was well known

EltonJohn69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227472#Comment_121227472

It’s always been very obvious that he is a Liverpool fan, it a just strange that he doesn’t admit to it on the podcast.

Cienciano

Funny, I always thought he was an arsenal fan till someone mentioned Liverpool a few years ago. But he's of the age where 90% of irish people were either Liverpool or Man-U

cheese sandwich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227688#Comment_121227688

I don’t think it’s obvious at all. It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t like the oil money clubs but otherwise I wouldnt have known who he (allegedly) supports

Arghus

I've never found it to be obvious either tbh.

EltonJohn69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227826#Comment_121227826

All his references are Liverpool players or Liverpool games/incidents. And he gets obsessed with Liverpool players Nunez, Trent etc. he doesn’t talk about other teams like he does about Liverpool…. Also that time arsenal lost to city last minute when Liverpool were going for the title had him quite upset

cheese sandwich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121228146#Comment_121228146

As a Liverpool fan, I thought there was a distinct lack of coverage of Liverpool so far this season until after the Spurs game

atilladehun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121228146#Comment_121228146

Yep, it's this. He either follows Liverpool or is obsessed. Just listen how often he goes 'its like that time, do you remember, when Liverpool............' 80% of the time its a Liverpool reference.

Doesn't bother me, I'm a Liverpool fan.

Say Your Number

Ah so we're back round to the 'Who does Ken really support' question.

cmac2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121228146#Comment_121228146

The only one "obsessed" is you. You're just a bitter Man Utd fan who has been constantly moaning over the years here about any Liverpool or Man Utd comments Ken makes.

EltonJohn69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121228415#Comment_121228415

No need for name calling. I didn’t bring up the topic.

elefant

Even after reading it on here before and listening out for it, it isn't obvious to me.

siblers

Only way I'd have thought Ken supported Liverpool was based off his disdain towards Utd.

~Rebel~

Once I became aware of his Liverpool fandom 5 or 6 years back it did seem pretty obvious going forward alright... it's just clearly the club he's most interested in, has the most knowledge of, uses the most for examples, has the most hyper-fixations with etc etc. I think it's good that he keeps himself officially neutral on the pod though, as soon as you start declaring your interest, it does color perception. I think he does a good job of being critical of Liverpool too when it's warranted (and actually often goes a little over the top, i think in a conscious or unconscious effort to show his neutrality).

Hotblack Desiato

The interminable discussion of every VAR decision involving a certain Merseyside club is rather tedious to say the least.

~Rebel~

Think you could've left it at "every VAR decision". Doesn't need the club specific.

I do get a kick out of a lot of the riled up nature of the discussions at times alright though. tbh there's very little about the SC coverage I've a problem with - and pretty much nothing outside of rugby. Quite happy to just listen to the lads explore what interests them. That's the beauty of the thing.

DukeCaboom

I heard Ken on a podcast about my favorite game I was ever at.... ken chose the game where Liverpool beat Blackburn on the last day of the season to win the league.

healy1835

Hearing that Gabriel Marcotti had been arguing that Hazard was a better player than Salah was very on brand. Thank god it was on another podcast.

jones

Classic Marcotti

cheese sandwich

I really enjoyed the rugby preview episode. Justin Marshall is a great guest, it seems like a bit of a coup for them to be able to get him

Hotblack Desiato

It's a complete disgrace that the taxpayer is funding horse and greyhound racing. Horse racing doesn't need it and greyhound racing should just be let die. €4000 subsidy per spectator in Youghal, really?!?

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121231773#Comment_121231773

Every €1 invested in horse racing yields €35 in economic returns according to Horse Racing Ireland. While I don't agree with this stat, the government investing in Horse Racing makes sense. For every euro invested, more then €1 is returned to the economy.

Investing in Greyhound racing is the scandal here. It makes absolutely no sense. There is no €4000 subsidy per spectator in Youghal. It was a funny point but how thats calculated is silly.

Hotblack Desiato

Think you're missing the point Bren, horse racing wouldn't just stop if we stopped subsidising it, so why are we?

Greyhound would, has serious animal welfare issues, and produces no societal or economic benefit whatsoever.

Why is it a ridiculous way of calculating it? If a particular track is subsidised to an average of 12k a meeting and attracts 3 spectators to ANY meeting (whatever about what their average attendance is, but it can't be great can it?) you have to ask wtf is going on.

For once I fully agree with the FAI, a tax which is largely taken from the pockets of football fans goes mostly to the 'sport of kings' and another thing which is barely a sport at all and is dying on its arse.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121231955#Comment_121231955

Don't the horseracing figures include people working in bookies in their numbers?

dulpit

Oh also, saw this on twitter just now. Wonder what the big news is? My guess is Mark has been off doing something else like the George Gibney pod...

https://twitter.com/SecondCaptains/status/1712861124390011134?t=r6Z7kxz5_yHpG09C5WOEJQ&s=19

C4000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121232142#Comment_121232142

If the prize money wasn't attractive then the investment that those big owners make in irish racing would go elsewhere. That investment is a large part of why thousands of people are employed in the racing industry here.

It's the same reason that the IDA give grants to massively profitable multinational companies....we're competing for investment on an international level.

C4000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121233476#Comment_121233476

Some of the stats for secondary employment in the reports on racings economic impact are contestable, but it still employs a large number of people directly and generates 2 billion per annum of economic activity.

C4000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121232360#Comment_121232360

Some greyhound tracks have lucrative contracts to run meetings at times of the day when there is no other live sport on. These are purely to provide a betting product for mostly UK based betting shops. That is Youghals business model and they don't look to attract attendees to racing.