Second Captains Part II

Jesus yes, ears are bleeding, get the same issue on Matt Cooper

Ken has had a bad start to the year when it comes to defending his entrenched opinions.

The idea that Ronaldo isn't among the best players ever and that there was never a time that there was a debate in the comparison to Messi is just untrue. There was definitely a period around the time Messi's Barcelona were losing 8 - 2 to Bayern and Ronaldo was coming off his third consecutive champions league win, that it was felt that Ronaldo was a better over 30's player than Messi. Messi's world cup win was needed to cement his status as the better player.

Then there's the dogmatic dismissal of the job Eddie Howe has done at Newcastle, like the only reason they are where they are is due to petro-dollars spent. The actual facts are that they have only the 5th highest transfer spend in the league over the last two seasons and (more importantly) the 9th highest wage bill. Given where they came from, it can only be concluded that Howe has done a fantastic job since coming in.

I think the real issue Ken has is Howe's position seemingly being that Newcastle have gotten to where they are by hard work alone. To ignore the money is just weird, and yet Howe seems to do that (or downplay it at least) whenever it gets brought up.

Really enjoyed that 07 Vialli interview. Eoin had a very annoying accent back in the day though, weird how it's changed so much. Ken sounds the exact same though

I was trying to listen in the car and the Indo rugby guy was just unintelligible most of the time, whack up the volume it's still muffled, then somebody else speaks and nearly deafens me. Sounded like that guy was using a 1990s Nokia he found in a drawer for a mic

Maybe he borrowed the mic from Miguel Delaney?

Ah, Parker & Lovejoy and US Murph after five a side before going out for beers. That was Friday evening.

Those were the days.

I've long thought that audio levels on SC were too low (compared to all the other podcasts I listen to and even SC on RTE) but they're they pits lately.

Much too low in general, and then up and down far too much between different contributors / audio beds.

I often have my phone on max, headphones on max, and still can't make parts out if there's any sort of background noise at all, the one I was listening to yesterday when out for a walk got drowned out if ONE car went past.

Sort it out lads.

Doesn't help that many of Ken's most cutting / funny remarks are half mumbled!

Eoin isn't as trebly as he used to be(!) but still cuts through noise a bit better than Ken.

only catching up on thread now after making my previous post. Absolutely.

The point that Matt Targett, Nick Pope etc are not world beaters is not the strongest counter point to Kens contrarianism because the petrol dollars also helps you lure players from rivals mid-season. It’s just still undeniable IMO that NFC are better coached than they used to be, like the overnight change to Chelsea when Tuchel replaced Frank. But sure content is as content does

Yeah, he's talking pure shite for the sake of it and he knows well.

Generally getting 8 or 9 CL goals in a season is amazing. Ronaldo had seasons getting 15,16 and 17. Its not like a Gary Lineker right place right time tap in merchant either.

It’s a dreadful comparison. Gerd muller never ever scored from outside the area. He was a brilliant penalty box finisher. Ronaldo scored routinely from distance. He scored using his pace to get in areas he had no right to be in. He scored headers and bicycles where his spring off the ground was an awesome sight to behold. He was a much superior player.

Ronaldo has been causing Ken discomfort for a long long time. The fact that two weeks after the world cup he was talking more about Ronaldo then Messi says it all.