I didn't like their bias on Vera Pauw either. Whether she was right or wrong I thought they were too one-sided on it.
Apart from a few guest slots I haven't missed it much since it went over to subscription. There was a lot of passing-the-time, chatting-amongst-themselves conversations on it I thought.
Newstalk / Off The Ball are completely painful for the most part in my opinion. They're the guys who've lobbied for Stephen Kenny for the last few years, the great white hope for Irish football and look how thats turned out....
Their recent paid subscriptions model has gone down like a lead balloon too, so I believe.
Will check that out. Thanks.
Yea Nevin is good but i used only listen to him on OTB on a Monday but haven't in quite a while. I only mentioned the few i did as they sprung to mind but there are others i like the lads on Totally Football Show too, Dan McDonnell is usually quite informative especially on League of Ireland where him and his sidekick Johny Ward also have a good podcast. Plenty to go around.
The Liam Brady special episodes were very good.
Of current football-related podcasts, I really like "The rest is football" with Gary Lineker, Shearer and Micah Richards. Yes I know Richards can be a bit painful but overall it's a good show, plenty of honest and frank debate. The lads are definitely free'er with their opinions on it than they would be on MOTD.
I like all those pundits you mentioned and I'd add Pat Nevin and Tim Vickery to the list as well. Apart from Ken Early there isn't likely to be much robust debate from any of the others though. That may be more to do with the format where its often 1 on 1 (interviewer/guest) or a panel where each persons speaks in turn without much pushback.
Never liked Dunphy always thought he was a little weasel. Have always respected John Giles and have listened to him on OTB since he staryed on it. I do agree though it is coming to an end and wont be long before John packs it in.
Once one door shuts another opens, though. We now have football podcasts left, right and centre. The likes of Jonathon Wilson, Lars Sivertson, Tim Vickery, Ken Early etc to entertain us. Football punditry is better now than ever imo.
The pre- and post- game analysis used to be better than the game itself. I can remember the glory days of Dunphy Giles and Brady on RTE’s Champions League coverage, “This guy Ronaldo is a cod”, “I’ll tell you who wrote it” etc etc. Absolutely must-see viewing. I used to listen to the Last Word on match days to try and work out if it was pre-recorded so as to know if Dunphy would be on TV that night!
These days I never bother with the panels, particularly on RTÉ, which seem to have been picked to be as bland and controversy-free as possible. God forbid that someone might say something that the arseholes on Twitter would subsequently complain about.
It feels like we are coming near the end of an era doesn't it?. Liam gone, Souness retired, John and Eamon (for all their faults) wont be around forever and will be greatly missed.
Maybe I'm being overly nostalgic but apart from Roy Keane (like him or loathe him) it feels like the whole scene will be very dull and sanitised. Even Didi almost seems irritable having to analyse alongside his new restrained colleagues. God be with the days when I looked forward to the half time studio row as much as the game itself.
Yeah there’s probably an element of that and I agree that he’d still be a better pundit than any of RTE’s current crop.
I can definitely relate to the points he made when he decided to retire from the TV work - that he was getting a bit fed up and disillusioned with the modern game - the money, the sports washing, the endless VAR controversies, etc.
Eamonn’s 2-part podcast with him is worth a listen, covering his recent autobiography.
I agree. Maybe he doesn’t want to end up like what John and Eamon have become. Thought he was still by far the best on the RTE panel when he finished up though
No worries pal, I remember when Giles and Dunphy were essential viewing. Those days are long gone unfortunately
Love John and Eamo but I tend to agree with most of what you've said here. The "Kids don't play ball on the streets" line has gotten very old at this stage
Didi is a big analyst on German tv and does games for rte. He probably has enough money coming in to not have to bother
I did think Liam would keep up the podcasts and occasional radio contributions but it seems he's decided to step away entirely. Its a shame because I think he's still pretty sharp on the modern game.
Yeah Didi used to be a regular in early days of that podcast but I don't think he's been on it at all for a few years now. Dunphy has also occasionally made a few disparaging remarks about Didi's RTE analysis, probably in regard to Didi's criticism of Stephen Kenny... and Eamon won't hear a bad word said about Kenny. So maybe there was a bit of a falling out there. Eamon of course has form for falling out with people...
I agree that Liam is a big loss. Even occasional disagreements gives it a bit of variety. Otherwise ED is too inclined to agree with JG, even if it reflects how much he respects his opinion. They have had Didi on a few times a while back if im correct? Could do with him back.
Is Liam up to anything now?..did he just retire due to his disdain for the modern game?
John isn’t going to want to listen to anyone correcting his mistakes.
Eamon and John are too far out of touch with the modern game. John is still very good and I could listen to him all day but for that slot to work they need someone else on to bounce off and to correct their obvious mistakes! I think John is much better when he's on to talk about some specific topic thats close to his heart, e.g. the Bobby Charlton tribute a few weeks ago rather than yet another episode bitching about Pogba and his ilk.
it was also far better when Liam Brady used to join in, it really needs that different viewpoint, someone a little more in-tune with the modern game, but sadly Liam has retired from it all now (he confirmed as much in his own dedicated episode earlier in the week).
I'm no great fan of Gary Neville but I think he's a solid pundit, so Eamon calling him a "windbag" is a bit ridiculous. The irony seems to be lost on him.
On their discussion about Stephen Kenny John Giles has no idea that Irish players were not allowed to go to England until they were over 18. He hadn't a clue who the manager of the u21 team was either. Eamon didn't even seem to know that Evan Ferguson was over in England before he was 18 because of his mother being English.
Your loss pal. We’ll never have the likes of JG or ED again.
I listened to The Stand for the first time in months this week to hear Giles and Dunphy on Man Utd.
Highlights included Dunphy calling Gary Neville a windbag for having an opinion on everything (!) and him confidently telling Giles that Arambat had been signed from Ajax.
I won’t bother listening again anytime soon.
Good listen right enough.
Makes a change from John's usual lazy ramblings about what he read in the paper with reminders from Eamo that the whole country was hanging on his every word and didn't want to hear from him.
I think Bobby Charlton was the last remaining survivor.
Is there anyone left alive who was on the plane?
Thought the conversation with John Giles on Bobby Charlton was really good, and quite sad in how Giles described him as getting even quieter after Munich.
Phillip O'Connor in complete denial of the failed experiment of a multicultural society based on mass immigration.
Not a regular Stand listener but I'd imagine D O'B is the kind of smug smarmy git who would run Eamon up the wrong way
Whats up with eamo and the rte rugby panel. His last couple of rugby podcasts he has being given them sly digs.
