Yeah, Branno is fine, but he's becoming gradually more prominent in the show and he falls into the Murph trap of not being that engaging of a storyteller.
For instance, I'm always entertained by Ken, no matter how trivial the anecdote. Branno seems to have endless stories of meeting people - and none of them are particularly interesting to listen IMO, but maybe others like them.
Lately it is the Political pods that I have gotten any value from. Even with Ken, the PL pods have been reduced to VAR or money or some random listener abuse. I like American Football, but they had too much US Murph on recently. If I want coverage, I will use US feeds for that.
As you say, they seem to have no niche coverage these days. Yesterday's Sharlene Maudsley one was nice and a case in point. Not something you get everywhere.
Branno himself is alright (except on certain topics), but I feel like his increased inclusion drags the whole thing into bantsville a bit. He’s like the excited puppy that distracts everyone else. Not to mention that with the extra voice there’s less room for mad Ken free-forms.
Otherwise, I’d love more niche one-off stories. The endless cycle of soccer/rugby/GAA is grand, but we need more breaks from it to have a peek into some interesting story elsewhere. I know they do that sometimes already, but I want more.
I think if you took Ken or Eoghan out of it I would probably unsubscribe - but I can't foresee any of them going anywhere tbh.
Yeah I agree, out of the 3 front lads I think Ken would be the biggest risk to just pack it in and go live in a cave in tibet for a year.
The mix between the 3 is what works for me I always think it's slightly off when any of the three are not present (yes even Murph) 😁
I agree with some posters that I am finding the podcasts not as interesting / enjoyable as before, I'm not at a stage where I would consider unsubscribing though. I think they could do with a freshen up of the podcast but I'm not really sure how they would do that or what they can change when they are clearly very successful already. Maybe there is just a lot of sport and the topics just all merge and seem the same day to day or week to week. What changes do people think they could make? I know they did the survey a few years ago but that seemed to have no impact. I was also thinking (don't think it will happen as they have a great following and make a lot of money) will any of them leave and could the podcast survive without one of them? Eoin has a good gig with premier sports, maybe he could do more permanent TV presenting. I could see Ken one day just packing it in (please don't!!), I think they are the key to the success and it wouldn't work without either, Ken would be a bigger loss if that were to happen
Did Branno just sign up this Everton fan at random or something
Fully with you on this, the stuff with Branno is getting tedious.
We get it, you're mad bants but please refrain from reminding us every show
Domestic soccer is popular.
I love the LoI coverage too. Great that they're increasing it.
I'd like more on LOI personally!
It's on the up and it's nice and fresh!
It's funny seeing how anything on the LOI on the podcast rattles them so much.
You can unsubscribe from seeing their boards posts. Just put them on your ignore list.
Did a league of Ireland fan get accepted into art college ahead of you or something?
When can we expect your book out?
Mein LOI Kempft.
Can you please let us know when you unsubscribe.
Leading with LoI on a Monday football pod is an omnishambles
Glad Heimir is talking sense and that Bradley is thin-skinnned enough to be offended by the bloody obvious that LoI level is no preparation for international football, though. As always with the LoI the entertainment is entirely coming from the gelatinous egos wobbling on the sidelines and not the actual matches.
A few months back Ken mentioned Katja. He was talking about Eastern Europe and saying some poeple have a hankering for the old East... He said something like "the eat borsch and read Katya Hoyer".
She's an excellent speaker on her subject so was kinda surprised at Ken's "drive by" at the time.
Do you mean Beyond The Wall? Yes, it is excellent.
I thought it had one major flaw though. Her thesis was that by the 70s and 80s most East Germans had essentially made their peace with the GDR. However this failed to explain why mass protests broke out in the late 80s and the regime thereafter imploded. If the majority of the population were satisfied with the system, why did it collapse?
I don’t think her approach adequately explained this, and this was because I think she viewed the GDR (where she spent her childhood) through overly rose tinted glasses. In retrospect, it seems the vast majority of of East Germans sullenly accepted the regime but did not support it, and did not try to save it when it began to fall apart.
You tell everyone on the bus that you’re getting off?
Beyond The Wall. Looking forward to getting started on it. I read Stasiland by Anna Funder a few years back, it was very good
The Best Catholics In The World by Derek Scally was too. He's lived in Berlin for years, definite parallels between the DDR and Catholic Ireland… there were the 'true believers' for whom the regime could do no wrong, those who were indifferent, and the rest who knew the emperor had no clothes but feared the consequences of saying it. Even now in both countries there are those who want the horrors of the past to be fogotten instead of revealed.
For anyone who enjoyed Katja Hoyer, her book 'Beyond The Wall' is superb
Fair play to them, they’ve put a pod on Rovers this morning as well as the politics pod
It's not a bus - you don't have to tell anyone you're getting off
He was great, very genuine and not a “stadium pervert” 🤣
I had him down as in his 60s until he started saying he played with Dunne, Hibbert and Cadamarteri 😳
Low bar!
Are we absolutey sure the Everton lad was a scouser?
I'm joking of course he had the thickest scouse accent in the whole world ever.
Far better than that other scouse fella they have on
One way back. Search for Shane Curran. It was when they chatted to him last year when Napoli won the Scudetto. They played that audiobed just before they chatted to him.
Just checked, was episode 2629. Go to the 4 mins mark.
Was a bit of a weird sehment from the lads. Felt like someone dragged out of the nearest pub. And then it turns out he had left before the end anyway. Thought Eoin was a bit odd today. Didn't want to discuss any of the match incidents and shut Ken down any time he mentioned a refereeing decision.
The Evertonian guy on today was gas although now sure what we actually got from the chat ha. It was like they just found some randomer outside a pub in Liverpool and interviewed him about the Everton/Liverpool rivalry. I enjoyed it.
