That’s a good idea. During covid they did a series with him on legends he’d played with. It was very good, he had some great stories.
i respect Johnny Giles but he’s well past the sell by date. It has a certain charm to it. But yeah, it’s very limited to “he’s a good lad him” or “he hasn’t got it”. And of course plenty anecdotes from the 70s. “Back in my day ...”
I had a discussion with somebody on this the other day and they made a good point. He subscribes to 6 or 7 podcasts, as various stages throughout the year but cannot bring himself to subscribe to OTB, despite enjoying it and having no issue paying for content.
He said when you have been getting something for free, for 10 years or more, and then you are suddenly asked to pay for it, when its always been free.....no way.
They did that during Covid and I'd say he found it tough going as he was talking about so many players that he knew that are now gone.
I had the Giles segment on the radio last night, same stuff he's been doing for years now. Seems to me that the boys indulge him like you would your uncle who is slowly losing it or the decent but boring old lad in the bar. That said, I'd hate to see the day he isn't on the Airways.
Maybe instead of having him on every week they could get him on occasionally to talk about a former player or manager who has died, the 30th/40th anniversary of an international match, repeats of European games from the 60s and 70s etc.
We would still hear Johnny, he would be comfortable on what he's talking about and we could get a bit of personal insight into players, games etc we probably only ever read about or seen old footage of on TV
I haven't listened to Giles since himself and Dunphy went over the last couple of Ireland matches, on The Stand. The defence of Kenny was almost through the looking glass kind of ridiculous.
That said, I generally still enjoy listening to Giles, even if his knowledge of today's football is a bit lacking. I just needed a break after that.
His analysis is:
He's a good lad / not a good lad
He's doing his stuff / not doing his stuff
Have to agree with you on this. No real insight into todays game or any thought outside of the back in my day roll up your sleeves get stuck in. Waste of a good segment to be honest.
Most people in Ireland haven’t a clue about rugby really. Absolute bandwagon of the highest order.
She also some time recently during the newsround said Luton play at Kenilworth Lane or Park or somewhere, it wasn't Kenilworth Road anyway. One of the more famous old grounds in English football, and the whole Summer the discussion on every football site was would it be open for the new season.
hes even stopped doing the stories, the presenter says something he repeats it back in a more disorganized way and repeat
he was medium as a straight man to dunphys madness
Sometimes I do if I'm out for a walk or cycle and yeah, it's not great to be fair. I wouldn't say it's spectacularly bad but it's not great. I like some of the stories about the old times and players. It's out of touch with the modern game though
Anyone listen to the John Giles section they have every thursday, its spectacularly bad
New ad on rotation flogging the subscription service.
“Off The Ball all stars” are mentioned and the tagline is “join the obsession”...
I bet they tried to get Joe to introduce the service and I bet Joe said a big fat "eh no thank Ger, I'll let you try flog this" and Ger had not a leg to stand on because Joe is an outstanding broadcaster who can get another gig in the morning and will probably get a bigger gig in the future anyway.
If Joe Molloy left I would find the rest of them impossible to listen to.
I met up with friends recently and way back when the discussion would often be "Did you hear such and such interview on Off The Ball, what did you think of......." because we all listened to podcasts, etc from the show when running/driving/walking/cycling/etc (as parents with kids, 7-10pm doesn't suit to listen live). When we met recently OTB did not get one mention in the whole night if I remember right.
They have become an irrelevant also-ran in a saturated market. Its a pity we can't know their subscriber figures (like you can with Patreon for example) but I bet one thing, the numbers are absolutely paltry and I'd say Ger is scratching his head at "Why won't these minions give us that tenner a month FFS".
The hilarious thing is this last line is exactly how Ger talks when he's talking about somebody who he doesn't like!
Haters gonna hate.
Shockingly bad is some statement about a show that grew from 1 hr a day 5 days a week to 3hrs each evening 5 days, then 4-6 hours on Saturday and Sundays as well, then 90 minutes each week day morning and whose staff have won numerous broadcasting awards.
Eh? Two shıt products with unrealistic price tags, not sure what your point is, they are both shockingly bad for their price point.
What date did they launch the sub service? When is the two month mark that we should be watching out for to see the sub numbers?
I might have paid a fiver a month, if it had been communicated by somebody other than an arrogant p***k saying "Its only a tenner a month".
I have the tenner, I'm just not giving it to you Ger. Because, basically, I don't like you..
That’s an absurd amount of money for a single podcast with three lads yakking away about sport, and nothing else. I’d say two euros a month is more like it.
Entertainment. The show is popular, has been for a long time, whoever thought of pushing this is banking on that popularity being something that people would pay for.
It does put the complaining about the TV license that a lot of people spend their time doing into perspective though. If OTB is worth 10/month to people, hard to argue with 13.33/month per household for what's available there.
I listen to OTB the odd time but I’m baffled as to what they’re asking €10 a month for.
They’re not investigative journalists, nor do they offer particularly ground-breaking punditry. It’s literally a few lads sitting at a table gabbing about sport or what other, more dynamic, journalists have uncovered themselves. What are people supposed to be paying such a premium for?
The same was said when the Second captains team left and Ger came back to OTB, and again when he started OTB AM. It's a bad move, it won't work, he shouldn't be in that position, etc etc. But both initiatives ultimately were successful.
Not saying that this will turn in to a success, but he has been the chief navigator of OTB pretty much since its inception and I don't think it makes sense to ignore that.
I wonder though if they are being pushed in a particular direction from higher up. The pushing of the Go Loud app a couple of years was something that never struck me as being something the presenters were overly keen on. Not saying that was definitely the case, or is the same here, just I had those thoughts at the time.
There's no need for Joe to be overly invested. He won't be short of opportunities elsewhere if it all goes tits up
I know he's the boss but having Gilroy come out as the face of asking for your €10 every month was a serious misstep. Nobody really wants to line Gilroy's pockets directly. And given how flippant he was the night he announced it I'd say many refused to subscribe there and then. It really seems like they rushed it in without much thought before the return of the Premier League and the Rugby World Cup. I think a bit more notice and maybe someone like Joe Molloy announcing it would probably have worked better. Although I sense Joe is not particularly invested in the subscription route anyway.
If you are considering paying a tenner a month for OTB, listen to Shane Hannon on Pat Kenny show today just before midday.
He was asked on about the VAR controversy and displayed an amazing lack of knowledge on new offside VAR technology available.
Nope. Disagree. Driving ranges and most courses full of people just like you and me. Ordinary folk. I should know I've been doing it for 45 years.
Big wigs in companies playing golf. So what.
Not sure it was sneaky. It was pretty bloody blunt.
Happened to catch some coverage on Sunday when Vinny Perth was talking about the Forest/Brentford game.
Duggan interrupts Perth to update about something he saw on the screen. I don't think it was even about Europe winning another point, just something about the crowd cheering. Anyways, Duggan, who was mid conversation about Forest/Brentford asks Perth where does the Europeans passion for team Europe come from.
It's just stupid to go off on a tangent like that for basically no reason.
Anyways Perth was clearly bluffing his way through the answer. He finished up with something like "when you think of all those who voted for Brexit, and then you so many Brits over there (at the Ryder Cup), it's mad"
The thickos still think that someone voting for Brexit means they hate Europe and its people and that they only ever want to stay in the UK.
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