Newstalk: Off The Ball

Yes and other people are allowed give their opinions without you jumping in and moaning. Otb guys loved Kenny, and wouldn't be negative after loses. But they're throwing daggers at the newbie straight away.

Where is the expert ger? Haven't seen him yesterday or today. I want to know his opinion on matters. He's always insightful and knowledgeable

but its not consistent - the same results and performances under Kenny were not treated the same as the ones under O'Shea and now under HH, it is literally inconsistent in that way.

Its not just the OTB crew but irish soccer media in general, who lets be honest seem to have this mad belief that the fortunes of the men's national soccer team are at the forefront of everyone's mind - on monday OTB described the managers job as the most high pressure job in ireland! Only because of the shark park that lurks in the sports pages of the newspapers and on OTB. As posted above, the SC lads were also at it, but at least they do it with humour, the OTB lads approach any sport like its the Nuremburg trails presided over by the pope.

We have had O'Neill, McCarthy, Kenny, O'Shea and HH in the past 12 years and nobody wants to address the elephant in the room that we are not producing players, this short term fascination with the manager and the FAI is ridiculous.

We got the ex-Jamacia manager because that is our level, nobody else wanted the job, which is why the FAI kept postponing the announcement. Does OTB expect the FAI to come out and say this? If they did there'd be a three hour "sack the FAI" special.

its a point that has been made by, for example, Dan O'Donnell but its made during the post 9pm show by him and yet the newsround segment which starts the show and is probably the most listened to has been a "blame the manager (except Kenny)" zone for a long time now. So, sure they are covering the bases but anyone who listens to the show long term can see their editorial policy here.

The issue really in connection with HH is, as i said before, that this started this very night two weeks ago when the man was still a week and a half away from his first match, the 7.30 segment and the following thursday had basically written him off and it seems to me that they are just following this line.

Who knows, they may end up being right and he may indeed be a spoofer but OTB had him written off before he had even started.

We got the ex-Jamacia manager because that is our level, nobody else wanted the job, which is why the FAI kept postponing the announcement. Does OTB expect the FAI to come out and say this? If they did there'd be a three hour "sack the FAI" special.

Whatever about expecting the FAI to come out and say nobody wanted it, its baffles me they promoted Mark Canham after it. The appointment of Heimir was handled terribly.

Between the incessant pushing of the cash machine and "William Hills, "Who You Got" its genuinely a very unpleasant listen for anyone with problem gambling tendencies. Significant triggers.

It appears the Friday night show is now totally recorded.

Adeleke was running in the Diamond League shortly after 7 and zero mention of it on the news round.

Very shoddy stuff.

To be fair you can allow for the bulk of the show to be a pre-record on a Friday, but the newsround should really be live. It's news.

Newsround was always live. I dont know why they abandoned the premier league previews they started last autumn which filled in till 8pm and was of some worth, as opposed to repeats of bits from the racing (betting) podcast and the crappy quiz. They'd actually be better off just having a live one hour show on Friday. They're really needing the Rugby season to crack on now, they had another "impromptu" side tangent during the week to fill in 20 mins before 9 o'clock.

oddly enough last sunday week was one of those where they didnt have 1 or 2 live matches to fill the 2-7pm slot but it actually resulted in some decent discussion - helped by a paper review about an hour long - and them somehow managing to get about 2 hours on the ireland match dotted around the slot, but they still needed to resort to "here's some stuff we have on the podcast" to fill in.

incidentally, when the OTB pod was launched last year it was with a "special introductory offer" of €99 per year, which it still is about 18 months later so its neither special, introductory nor an offer.

Yet you seem to listen too the weekend show religiously...

Its lost something alright but they have ber. Recording stuff earlier and putting it out on the shows, not a massive fan of that.

3 hours a night 5 nights a week is a lot to fill. Better off having a hour show or 2 hours Friday previewing the games for the weekend, soccer and rugby coming into the time of the year. The presenters aren't the best. Will is good and Joe's a big loss. Nathan is ok seems a good lad. JD is only ok the Saturday show is meh, I can take it or leave it.

My problem is wtf is Richie Mccormack doing the news round from the bedroom even after covid ffs. It looks ridiculous.