Second Captains Part II

I thought so too.

It felt like Ken was trying to steer the conversation into areas that Richard Evans wasn't too bothered about talking about. He flat out disagreed with Ken's assertions a few times - not in a confrontational way, just in a way that made it clear he didn't agree with everything Ken was saying.

And he did say at one point -"as I mention in my book, which I thought I was brought here to talk about" - which was put very politely, but it was clear he didn't get the conversation he expected.

The two of them got on and he did thank Ken at the end, but they seemed at odds in their approach at least at times. Ken was more about making statements that maybe feel true and was always trying to link to contemporary events, whereas R Evans was about rigour and, I felt, surprisingly uninterested in the current political & historical moment.

That was what I thought too. I was more interested in Evans’s insights on the Nazis than his opinions about Tucker Carlson, who Ken seems quite obsessed about

Branno should probably pick a wider target than Sligo-based 1916 super-fans for the Ken wind-up tribute act if he wants it to hit.

Marky Park right in the town is named after the most republican woman to have ever lived and Murph went for Paric Sean in Carrick as the defence, do you even know your revolutionary leaders, bro?

And as an aside, Countess Markievicz is at least three times as cool as you remember from secondary school. Give her the Michael Collins biopic treatment.

I don't think I've ever heard the words "North star" this many times in any week of my life before.

I mean sure, but at least he’s right 95% of the time. Imagine if he was some centrist eejit or right wingnut, it would be many magnitudes worse.

Also Ken’s absurd dismissal of City being awarded the winning goal is undone by the fact Wolves were stripped of a very similar winning goal last season when it went to VAR. Either the Stokely Park lads robbed them of points last season or this season. Gary O’Neill chose his words very carefully in that context because it would have been obvious to him how inconsistently the rules have been applied on something fairly simple to officiate on replay.

Nerd nonsense.

Always love the football pods but could not get into it yesterday. Those guests were terrible. Particularly the Liverpool guy. I'm sure he'll be lauding Liverpool's amazing atmosphere and songs on a different week.

Honestly, I don't understand why they bring on fans for the football slots. Always the worst slots on the football show imo.

I mean he fairly effectively dismantled the points Ken was making in the pre-interview segment about the style of football without even hearing them.

Just having Wilson, Fanning and Miguel the Prophet of Wrong crying about the soul of football for 40 minutes would get very old if that’s all they did with the football guests.

Branno is fine in small doses but he has a tendency to get on his soapbox and preach a little too much. Smug, self-righteous, sanctimonious ...there's a common theme with people's opinion of him.

Don't mind hearing from him now and again, and he can be entertaining. But hoping he isn't becoming a regular - although that appears to be happening already. Also, I think the dynamic of 3 is far better than 4, on a regular basis anyways.

Not changing the rules wasn't an option. The attendance at matches for years proves that.

Lots of sports go through changes to improve them, backpass, offside, black cards, sin bins etc

Oh no, is this a new saying like ceiling or risk tariff that's gonna drive me mad?

He was a pundit!? Was he not a biased fan?

The hot key they played at the very end of Branno talking about yoga or something at Dalymount was perfect. Pretty sure you could hear a few of the others laughing away in the background

Lol what

As someone for whom gaelic football is number one with a bullet there is an absolute sickness in how the sport is played at the top level that needs to be solved by rules changes. This is not something that is new and has developed over such a long time that it’s very obvious this is the only way of jarring the sport out of the nuclear winter of massed 15 men behind the ball trench warfare. And by the way, attendances have been fading on a per match basis for long before the new format or even the Super 8s were a thing. The sport has been on a downwards spiral for decades at this point.

Affecting changes in style through the rules is something that has been done many times successfully in other sports and even football itself so where you got the idea it’s a doomed prospect from the outset is unfathomable.