The RTE Panel

cson

Just want to know what everybodys feelings on RTE's football coverage. Personally I think it to be the best on offer, Giles, Brady and Dunphy in full flow are very engaging to watch. As opposed to the plasticity that sometimes emanates from Sky and the woeful coverage that the BBC sometimes offer. Not to mention ITV......

The three lads spin off each other very well and while they are very blunt in their criticisms, a lot of the time they're spot on. (They've kind of stopped having a go at Ronaldo now, it was getting ridiculous there for a while)

Bateman

Can't stand Brady, he is a bitter bastard. He is an employee of Arsenal, yet still says "they" this and "they" that, the whole thing credits the viewer with very little intelligence. The chip he has on both shoulders for Chelsea is shocking, and if he is a "big Barcelona fan", as he constantly states, he shouldn't be there, simple as.

The truth is usually in between Dunphy and Giles.

Raskolnikov

They're not right all the time, but at least they offer very good argument and conflicting views. A good thing because consensous is very rarely reached in football. Ranking punditry, I'd go with . . .

RTÉ minus Bill O' Herlihy
Sky Sports
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.
.
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BBC
ITV
Setanta Sports

evad_lhorg

They are full of crap to be honest. they are ignorant small minded alcoholics.

cson

Yeah, what was the craic with that yesterday? He'd prefer Barca to go through because they are a "footballing side" >> Didn't play too much football against Liverpool who were full value to go through, and didn't deserve to lose on the night.

You have to admit though, they do stir it up a bit as opposed to watching Sky where most of the pundits placate each other. And don't get me started on Gary Lineker.

Raskolnikov

evad_lhorg wrote:

they are ignorant small minded alcoholics.

Still better than anyone else I can think of.

cson

If you got Richard Keyes anchoring with them.....

Though would he be as good without his buddy Andy Gray?

Royale with Cheese

Richard Keyes is sh*te

evad_lhorg

well Richard did himself no favours tonight arguing for the ref sending off van bommell and Diarra. that was a joke and its like somethin you do to a child.

cson

As bad as you think Richard Keyes is...... O'Herlihy for all his best efforts is embarrassing at times.

kraggy

Personally i think rte are, in general, too negative while bbc and itv are too triumphant in that if a british team wins then "they're just great" and have no faults.

While Giles, Brady and Dunphy are too negative for the most part, they are more astute in pointing out the negatives about teams and for the most part it is these negatives that usually spell the end for the teams in question.

take ronaldo, he hasn't consistently done it in the big matches like a genuine world class player does.

to summarise, a happy medium between the negativity of rte and the happy bandwagonism of itv/bbc would be the ideal punditry.

county

evad_lhorg wrote:

They are full of crap to be honest. they are ignorant small minded alcoholics.

i have to agree,especially dunphy,what a hypocrite,the man makes me sick

shatners basoon

Its that he's so damn fickle and doesn't really think about what he has said in any shape or form no matter how big a serving of humble pie he should have munched down on by now.

They're the most entertaining but not worth a damn in terms of a balanced viewpoint.

cson

His Roy Keane rhetoric shines through. Most of what they say is true however. Giles is probably the best of them.

shatners basoon

It can be true to a point but they always ignore any alternative viewpoints. Like slate someone for a poor performance but ignore the previous great performances.
They fail to realise that its very very rare to find a player who is constantly great. Almost never in fact.

Giles is indeed the best of them though (except maybe Souness whenever he's present as he offers some form of balance to the seesaw)

redzerdrog

they are ignorant idiots

Chucky the tree

Souness is the only pundit who i would happily sit there and want to listen too. The rest are complete rubbish.

cson

Souness was good with them alright, remember that night when dunphy went crackers on air :eek: (I know he does it most nights :rolleyes:)

MisterAnarchy

The RTE gang are the best of a bad bunch.
They are a tad too critical and tend to pick on individual players far too often i.e Ronaldo,Ronaldinho,etc.
They need to stop this nonsense of saying player x isnt trying a leg .
Thats a load of waffle.
They are often too harsh on the top players, as already pointed out great players cant be good all the time.
Dunphy makes a lot of good points but his predictions in the last few years are awful,his heart seems to be ruling his head.
Brady while a bit bitter is very shrewd and astute.
Trevor Steven is very good ,I like listening to him.
I'd listen to the RTE boys anyday over the drivel that is ITV and BBC who have become a parody of themselves since than grinning muppet Lineker took over.
Sky are good in some departments but poor in others .
Their Champions league coverage is far superior to the Premiership propaganda they spew out though
RTE >Sky >>BBC>>>>>>>>>ITV>TV3

shatners basoon

MisterAnarchy wrote:

RTE >Sky >>BBC>>>>>>>>>ITV>TV3

Come on now Packie Bonner is the funniest thing on television!

Corben Dallas

Bill 'Okey Dokey' OHeralihy
Bland face who plays the referee for the three nutters, no cutting insight to football. Suspect does’nt know the game well, just as easy do rugby or Gaelic.
Fancies himself.

Johnny Giles- Yesterdays man, may have been a footballing legend in his day, but that was 30+years ago. If he says "..but they’re not like Manchester United" or “ ..But they’re not a big club like Manchester United” and "...its all about honest of effort Bill" I'll break my TV. Resents Chelsea success.
Should be retired.

Brady, actual footballing genius, not great pundit/commentator. Bitter, resents Chelskis success, "cant buy a league winning team etc" Yes you can Chelsea, Blackburn, Real Madrid etc have done it. (Sometimes it doesn’t work)

Dunphy -Box office, reason why we bother watching RTE footie, always likely to go off on one, controversial (often just for the sake of being), calling Drogba a donkey >LOL >press headline/soundbite. He’s not (well maybe the top scoring donkey in the Premiership)(again controversial for the sake of)
Beneath the sparky and barbarous outside there’s a deep understanding of the professional game. Able to communicate this.
Clever and quick witted. He was a Journeyman Pro, now Superstar pundit, possibly up his own arse.

JPA

In between all the criticising and insulting that goes on with Dunphy and co they do make some valid points.
These, however, tend to be overshadowed by comments like "Ronaldo is a brat, a nothing player".
As was mentioned above a cross between the uber negativity of RTE and the triumphalism of the English stations would be perfect. But who'd wanna talk about that....

redspider

Yeah, The Panel are a great laugh.

Dara O'Briain is witty. Colin Murphy is funny, Andrew Maxwell too. Even Ed Byrne comes out with some good ones. Mairead Farrell is there for some eye candy.

;-)

But nothing beats the comical levels of The Special Football Panel, led by Bill O'Herlihy and backed up with equal wise cracks and gems of hilarity from Giles, Brady and Dunphy!

They may not be great panellists, they may be good panellists, but not great panellists, but they panel with 'moral courage' and 'conviction'.

Its been a funny show, they've had a good run, but its been running for 20 years now (yes, really)! So, surely time to retire ...... we can always watch the re-runs.

Redspider

shane86

Dunphy last night

"Decision like that, he must be on acid......LSD Bill!!!" Legend

RE*AC*TOR

I would watch the RTE football panel over any other. Sky Sports and BBC panels say nothing of any consequence. Absolute garbage. The big guy on Setanta who wears waistcoats isn't bad.

Yeah Dunphy goes over the top, but at least its entertaining, and to be honest a lot of the time I agree with him. Most of his comments are in reaction to the constant hyping of the British media of their "stars".

Souness was good during the summer with Dunphy and Giles.

PHB

Souness was quite good.

The RTE panel are overly critical while the English are overly positive.
Their treatment of Ronaldo really bugs me, like I'm thrown a remote at the TV before.
Bill : He's scored 16 league goals this season
Dunphy : Yeh, but most of those were against crap teams

Bill : You've got to say he really pulled United out of the hat in this match
Dunphy : Yeh, but it was against Fulham

I didnt' see their commentary last night, but despite the fact that Ronaldo had a moment of brilliance to win United the game, I'm sure they still slated him and gave him no credit.

Ronaldo isn't Figo yet, but he's not **** either. The English pretend he is Figo. RTE pretend he is as good as SWP.

SectionF

Have to say, I think Gilesy knows his stuff, as does Brady, and it's good that they're not part of the British bland sports machine.
I'm not proposing to open the whole debate about whether RTE should be duplicating coverage of British football. That's for another thread, if someone wants to open it.
But: isn't it weird that the panel never ever, or hardly ever, deigns to talk about Irish football? Even the great British players like Linekar etc. show knowledge of and respect for lower English leagues, and are delighted to put the spotlight on them every now and then. I'm sure they must have done, e.g. when Shels played Deportivo, but I have never seen our triumvirate of punditry so much as mention an Irish football club.

super_furry

They're becoming as tired, stale and predictable as any of their British rivals. Where Sky and BBC are unfailing complementary, Dunphy and the rest are the opposite, constanting moaning and each trying to be more controversial than the other. It's become a cliche now, you know that when United play, they're going to slag off Ronaldo and insist that they're not a good team. When Liverpool play, they'll question zonal marking, Stephen Gerrard not playing in the middle and how they 'don't get' what Rafa is trying to do. Tired, stale, predictable.

smoke

I think the 4 lads are briiliant and it will be sad when they leave RTE, they're such characters. I don't always agree with them and I think Brady and Dunphy in particular are very stubborn but at least they're honest.

AT least they have the courage and common sense to realise that Christiano and the likes are certainly not the best players in the world, in fact I don't think he's good enough for United. Also they pointed out how good Scholes is yesterday. 10 times the player Christiano is.

In summary I'd much rather listen to them than the likes of Ian Wright, who for such a talented player seems to know nothing about football. When asked to give his views after an Arsenal loss a while back I remember him slouching in his chair and saying "I've got nuffink to say, nuffink". Also whenever JAmie Redknapp is asked about Crouchy as a player all he can say is "he's a lovely fella".

bucks73

They obviously have the likes of Wright and Redknapp on the screen to communicate with the stupid masses of the british public. I will take the lads on RTE any day even if I dont agree with them and they go over the top on the odd occasion. At least they speak their minds and are entertaining.

fade2black

They sickened me last night to be honest. Ronaldo could mature into the finest player in decades and Dunphy would still not renege on his typicaly mindless verbal fodder. The problem with them now is that they think they are viewed by the public as an authority on football. Giles insulted just about every football watcher yesterday with his comment about Ronaldo. "The people just don't see it yet". Seriously, shut it.

bucks73

He didnt insult me.

fade2black

Well bully for you. You probably did a good job of insulting our British members up there so I'm pretty sure your concept of "insulting" is somewhat different to normal people.

bucks73 wrote:

with the stupid masses of the british public.

kraggy

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

The big guy on Setanta who wears waistcoats isn't bad.

Does anyone else find Dolan the most annoying, bullsh1tting pain in the arse?

ntlbell

fade2black wrote:

They sickened me last night to be honest. Ronaldo could mature into the finest player in decades and Dunphy would still not renege on his typicaly mindless verbal fodder. The problem with them now is that they think they are viewed by the public as an authority on football. Giles insulted just about every football watcher yesterday with his comment about Ronaldo. "The people just don't see it yet". Seriously, shut it.

I've been a united fan for just over twenty years and have been lucky enough to watch some real world class talent at untied over the years.

Ronaldo is not world class, he for the most part as dunphy would say "a shambles" I've seen better vision from a 10yr old in the dodder park.
His over all distrubtuin is awful
his final ball in the last 3rd is usually awful.
his finishing is awful.
his attitude is awful.

Dunphy and co are trying to get people to see the reality of the situtation, and the reality is he's a young guy with a bit of flair and a few tricks that could well be a great player in years to come but he's not now.

The lads do go on a bit sometimes repeating themselves but it's very very rare I find I can disagree with what giles has to say.

I love watching ronaldo playing the likes of fulham he can be very exciting.
but when it comes to the big games for the most part I don't want to see his name on the team sheet.

I would much prefer the 100% effort of someone like Darren Fletcher than the nonsense ronaldo produces a lot of the time.

Most of the bashing ronaldo gets is deserved.

_blank_

kraggy wrote:

Does anyone else find Dolan the most annoying, bullsh1tting pain in the arse?

Always have, and always will.

Dont be at yourself

The RTE panel do show real, honest insight - at times. Usually, it's overshadowed by bias, when they're watching Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Man Yoo games. I'd say if they were pundits on a match they've no interest in, they'd be brilliant!

And lets face it, our lives would be that little bit duller without those Dunphy 'mother theresa' style rants

The Rooster

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I find the RTE lads very entertaining.

The pity is that the three RTE lads generally agree with each other.
Would be great for debate if one of them actually gave credit to Ronaldo for he number of match winning performances he's put in this year

or if one one them said

"I agree that Liverpool's display was generally poor in the second half and Benitez substitutions were baffling and negative, however Liverpool played really well in the first half and a 2-0 or 3-0 lead would not have been undeserved. Then when they conceded the goal, they managed to regroup and didnt offer up any clearcut chances to Barca in the last quarter."

That would make for a more entertaining debate rather than all 3 saying Liverpool were crap and Barca a shambles

Pepe LeFrits

I love the RTE panel. Lived in the UK for two and a half years and having the option of RTE now is a revelation.

Rollo Tamasi

As long as they have Ray 'straight at the keeper' Houghton chripping along on the sidelines i'll be a happy camper. He is slightly better than Brian Kerr but only slightly.

Ardent

Dunphy, Giles and Brady can be entertaining but equally but they can be sooooo boring when go off on a rant about modern footballers and modern football in general.

I thought their discussion regarding Liverpool after the Barca game at Anfield was a disgrace. They waffled ad nauseum about Liverpool's failings - which we're all fully aware of - and a generally good performance by the Reds went unacknowledged.

Brady, in particular, outdid himself - whoever called him a bitter bastard got is spot on. The droll f*cker, a self-confessed Barca fan and Arsenal employee, had the audacity to say, after slating Liverpool as a team, that Barca would be sick at the thought of going out of the Champions League "to a team like Liverpool". All I can say to that is, where are your boys now f*cko??!

At the end of day, though, the unprofessionalism and controversial approach by Dunphy and Brady beats listening to the tow-the-party-line mannequins on Sky Sports.

bucks73

fade2black wrote:

Giles insulted just about every football watcher yesterday with his comment about Ronaldo. "The people just don't see it yet". Seriously, shut it.

fade2black wrote:

Well bully for you. You probably did a good job of insulting our British members up there so I'm pretty sure your concept of "insulting" is somewhat different to normal people.

And you assumed because you are of the opinion that Ronaldo is a decent player that everyone else shares the same view, hence Giles is wrong so he should shut up.

Masses was the wrong word to use but people like Wright and Redknapp are there for a particular audience.

I dont think Ronaldo will ever be a great player and I am glad someone on TV is also saying this. They may go overboard on it but at least they are saying it.

If you want to listen to Redknapp, Gray, Keys, Lineker, Dixon, Wright et al telling you Ronaldos the best thing since sliced bread then thats your choice.

Beans_On

yep it has got to stage where Dunphy is just a sensationalist trying to be controversial with nearly EVERY comment.

Giles is too negative unless a player is a bread and butter no nonesense midfielder (LOVES scholesy HATES ronaldo, although i can see why!)

Brady is a bitter man.


Although id always switch them on in favour of anything else.And would certainly miss them.

Limerick Dude

I thought the rte panel was always pretty ok, but watching them after the liverpool match just changed my mind.

Im not a Liverpool fan but what they were saying was bang out of order. Saying liverpool didnt go through cos they are not a "footballing" side, that bullshít. They didnt even mention the amazing first leg in the nou camp where they outplayed Barcelona. Barca hat eto'o back for the 2nd leg and were obviously going to attack Liverpool non stop. With the players Barcelona have and the players liverpool have, only one side is going to win out! so i thought Liverpool had their tactics spot on for the 2nd leg.

Those muppets kept going on about how "Liverpool were just pure determination", now someone please tell me what is wrong with that! Liverpool never stopped running in that game and closed down Barca through that whole game. I think that they said that Barca werent even trying or somthing along those lines. Well id rather see a team who wants to win the champions league than a team who wasnt even trying!

Giles - I dont understand what this man has to offer....he is an absolute fool who does not know a fcuking thing! He is always stuttering and mumbling and doesnt know what point he is making! My granny would be a better pundit than him.

Dunphy - Sometimes he makes sense and then other times (which is most of the time) he just says outrageous, pointless stuff so he can buy into his stupid little reputation that he think he has.

Brady - One of the pundits that actually knows something about football but can sometimes be negative. But compared to those idiots who sit around him, the guy is god of football pundits.

Bill - ah sure what can you say about Bill......he's a legend.

thebaz

i used to like Dunphy , even when it seamed i was alone , i used to like his radio show on today fm , up to recently i like him as a pundit , but i'm now getting sick of his black and white outlook on the game . Ronaldo is brutal , the Premiership is crap , the beautifull game is dead .. blah blah blah .. a few years ago when the Premiership was a weaker league , he adored it, and ridiculed our own "Chicken" league as he called it . In a word he himself has becoming boring by his self righteosness and ego driven controversiality. Grow up Eamon .

AthAnRi

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

I love the RTE panel. Lived in the UK for two and a half years and having the option of RTE now is a revelation.

Couldn't agree more, I had exactly the same experience. Rarely do I ever a gree with anything any of them say but they don't care about being PC or anything. They call a spade a spade if they see it that way. Also those of you who think Bill Okey Doke is an Idiot you are soooo wrong. He stirs it up so well. Gets them all going. He knows what he's at does the old boy;

This is a very interesting article about the whole thing. They are even respected in the UK

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2018405,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=5

gustavo

They are only "controversial" because they are preaching about players in a foreign country they dont have to worry about meeting these players , I think they are overrated and far too negative ,

AthAnRi

gustavo wrote:

They are only "controversial" because they are preaching about players in a foreign country they dont have to worry about meeting these players , I think they are overrated and far too negative ,

Total bollicks, they are controversial because RTE allows them to be. Irish people have a good tollerence for controversy of this kind. BBC is the biggest steaming pile of politicaly correct driven **** on the TV today. Followed closely by SKY and ITV. When dunphy made that comment about Erikson(the whole sex on bbc thing) during the world cup there wasn't one complaint.

When Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond took over a local radio station in englad for a couple of hours the radio station recieved a record number of complaints. all they were doing was a having a laugh.

Also I don't think dunphy gives 2 ****s about meeting Ronaldo. He often has a go at brady and he sits right beside him

gustavo

Well I for one cant wait for all the English clubs to be knocked out so that they can get on with the business of punditry without their petty hang ups and agendas.

SectionF

AthAnRi wrote:

Couldn't agree more, I had exactly the same experience. Rarely do I ever a gree with anything any of them say but they don't care about being PC or anything. They call a spade a spade if they see it that way. Also those of you who think Bill Okey Doke is an Idiot you are soooo wrong. He stirs it up so well. Gets them all going. He knows what he's at does the old boy;

This is a very interesting article about the whole thing. They are even respected in the UK

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2018405,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=5

I don't doubt that Bill knows what he's doing. What I object to his his professed ignorance of the game (isn't that right John?) and the clear disdain that he oozes. Bill's been presenting that show for ages, but he's still just a golfer behind a studio desk.

herbieflowers

The RTE panel just depress me, any match I've watched them analyse just seems too negative, vacuuming any enjoymenty out of the game...it is entertaining to watch though if it's a rival team they're commenting on ie Liverpool, provides great fodder....and I do love Dunphy's player-by-player dismantling..."Kewell: too fat, Cisse: the onlty person who thinks he's a good footballer is his mother!"!!! etc.