Second Captains

Cherub Rock tho. Proper classic there for sure. I know it's all a bit of craic, but why is it that the boys hate grunge week so much again.

That god damn Lenny Kravitz fella.

It was a good interview. Though it came to an end just when it was beginning to go in an interesting direction about the close relationship between politics and journalism in Ireland. Felt there was plenty more there for Ken and Dunphy to get into.

Arghus wrote: »

I appreciate Dunphy's show a lot, but it sticks in my craw that he's taking sponsorship now. I know he's got to keep the lights on somehow, but it takes away the notion of total independence. He managed to fit in a plug for the sponsors during the interview too. I cringed a bit.

How else would you expect him to consistently make the podcast, pay for his producer and contributors? It's either this way or a subscription model. The ads are reasonably unintrusive to be fair.

Nokotan wrote: »

Patww79 wrote: »

I doubt he see's people complaining on Twitter as fans at all. Normally they're just on there with the sole purpose to moan about anything.

Some nights when he was particularly awful I'd search Twitter for his name and see a lot of considered criticism not just "Dunphy is a knob" etc.

Either way, I don't know a single person that watched the RTE coverage that was still entertained by him. I enjoyed Eoin asking how much of it was actually real.

Really? I found him entertaining enough right until the end. As long as you know what he's up to, then it's fairly easy to be entertained by what he was doing.

I actually enjoy him as a guest on SC. Must be there third or fourth time he's been on since they stressed out and he's been a great interview each time.

lawred2 wrote: »

Always had a soft spot for Dunphy personally. He knew the game. Cantankerous bar stoolery with a bit of irony, self deprecation and humour.

The considered football anorak type stuff which a lot of people seem to demand in place of the likes of Dunphy has me reaching for the off switch almost immediately.

I think it just got old saying the same old stuff and rubbish for so long.

Jack Out. Mick Out. Stan Out. Trap Out. O'Neill out

Who's not on the teamsheet? Best player in the squad!

Player he wants to play actually gets a game - played out of position or incorrectly utilized.

and plenty more

He said twice in one week that Guardiola has done wonders with young players like Fernandinho, who at the time was 32. He talks about knowledge of the game but consistently gets things like this incorrect. He said that Ramos came through the Real Madrid youth system. If he's meant to be informing the public he's telling them a lot of inaccuracies. One event on during one match can sometimes signal the end of football. The RTE panel seemingly always talk about the state of the game and how it's dying, it happened so often during the World Cup. 

Anyways, I did enjoy the interview on Second Captains and liked that the lads challenged him on somethings and do occasionally listen to The Stand (the non football episodes) and can enjoy it, maybe because I don't know much about the topics and therefore trust the expert more than I trust Giles and Brady.

I think for a long while in his punditry career Dunphy walked that fine line between spoofery and entertainment fairly well. He was never the most informed pundit, but he was entertaining though and that was good enough. And when he was in his pomp I think most of his daft pronouncements were at least sincere and he spoke from the heart, rather than the head - he couldn't help himself.

But since The Trap era he became lazier and lazier as a pundit. His lack of research about players, teams, results - everything became chronic, inexcusably so, in my view. I guess I'm one of those traditionalists who likes if the pundits on TV at least have some research done about what they are paid to talk about, or at the very least don't spoof outrageously and then get haughty and defensive when called on your nonsense.

I also think Dunphy became lazy in his attitude towards what his role as a pundit actually was. There was a time when he was a controversialist, in the best possible sense, he used to say things about football to shake the status-quo and group think that often characterised coverage of Irish football. Even if I felt he was largely full of guff, he served an important role and, like I said, I think he was, back in the day, sincere enough about it.

But in more recent times I think he was content to play to the gallery and claim the easy victories and low hanging fruit, because that's what people wanted - and that was lazy. Occasionally he'd say something daft, because that's what people expected - and that too was lazy. Towards the end I don't think he really believed a lot of what he had to say, it was just a role given to him, largely by RTE and he went along with it. He was finished as a pundit, both in terms of knowledge and entertainment. The time had come; it was long overdue.

I think we get the real Dunphy on his podcast, not the cartoon Dunphy that he had become. I much prefer the real version.