Newstalk part company with Off The Ball team

Mr Whirly

RayCon wrote: »

Fri night on BBC ... Colin whatshisname from MOtD2 previewing the weeked games with Pat Nevin and Perry Groves ... usually 80 - 90 mins ... good for a run on Saturday morning

Sounds like torture.

Lovely Bloke

Mushy wrote: »

Try online radio.

eagle eye wrote: »

Not much good when you are driving a car.

Smartphone + TuneIn App

RayCon

Mr Whirly wrote: »

Sounds like torture.

To each his own

Cartman78

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote: »

I ended up cancelling the off the ball podcast. It just sounds so flat now.

Will be doing this asap as well - listening back to Wednesday's episode...the expert soccer analyst offering his opinions onthe Arsenal/Bayern game is none other than former Laois GAA footballer Colm Parkinson (!) WTF???? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

gimmick

eagle eye wrote: »

I don't think they were. I'm gutted if they go to a Dublin radio station that I cannot get down the country. I want them on national media and I think there are a lot of others who do.

4fm is nationwide isn't it?

Cartman78

Cartman78 wrote: »

Will be doing this asap as well - listening back to Wednesday's episode...the expert soccer analyst offering his opinions onthe Arsenal/Bayern game is none other than former Laois GAA footballer Colm Parkinson (!) WTF???? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Should have added as well that this followed a 20 min interview with Pat Fenlon which was one of the most mind-numbing pieces of audio I've ever heard in my life (although the Micheal O'Neill one from the previous day was a disaster as well) - not saying that either Fenlon & O'Neill are boring....more that Gilroy is literally sleepwalking his way through things.

Honestly, the interaction/forced banter with Parkinson is like something you'd hear on a transition year radio project exercise. Dreadful stuff.

Have been podcasting the football show for years so really disappointed...would have put it up there with the Guardian in terms of wit & intelligence and way ahead of the Game, Football Ramble etc. :mad:

Lovely Bloke

gimmick wrote: »

4fm is nationwide isn't it?

Dublin and a few provincial towns like Cork only.

mike65

gimmick wrote: »

4fm is nationwide isn't it?

Nope. Classic Hits 4fm to give it its current name has a ridiculous "multi city licence" which doesn't even cover all cities.

2.0% of 7am - 7pm national market of people aged 15 to 35
2.4% of 7am - 7pm national market of people aged 35 or older.

Adults Aged 35+
Average Weekday Yesterday Listenership, 5% national market (same as Lyric FM)

jaykay74

gimmick wrote: »

4fm is nationwide isn't it?

Chucky the tree

eagle eye wrote: »

I don't think they were. I'm gutted if they go to a Dublin radio station that I cannot get down the country. I want them on national media and I think there are a lot of others who do.

I think they were. They demanded to be moved to a 6pm slot on National radio because they felt they were that got and now not even one national radio station will offer them a slot? That to me shows that the lads were pretty delusional. I seriously doubt they would have walked if they thought their next step would be Nova.

ThunbergsAreGo

Cartman78 wrote: »

.would have put it up there with the Guardian in terms of wit & intelligence and way ahead of the Game, Football Ramble etc. :mad:

Ramble is great podcasting

Red Crow

naughtb4 wrote: »

Ramble is great podcasting

The forced humour is a bit cringe tbh. It's an easy to work pod that just goes horribly wrong.

Jax Teller

The profile at the end of Football Ramble annoys me .

Talking about some random Hungarian footballer they've never ever seen play.

" He was born 12 years before the summer of love "

"Oh he was a brilliant footballer Marcus "

"Oh yes of Course Jim"

*Not actual quotes but they're not far off .

Cartman78

Running low on podcasts, so against my better judgement I'm catching up with a few of last week's shows....

I thought Colm Parkinson "analysing" the Bayern-Arsenal game was as low as things could go for the Soccer show but just after hearing Daithi O'Regan comparing Jose Mourinho to Ger Loughnane :eek:

jack presley

I've never noticed them before but maybe they always did this but I've started seeing ads for the show on bus stops recently.

Are the ratings down or did they always run ads like this?

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Eli Manning wrote: »

The forced humour is a bit cringe tbh. It's an easy to work pod that just goes horribly wrong.

Jax Teller wrote: »

The profile at the end of Football Ramble annoys me .

Talking about some random Hungarian footballer they've never ever seen play.

" He was born 12 years before the summer of love "

"Oh he was a brilliant footballer Marcus "

"Oh yes of Course Jim"

*Not actual quotes but they're not far off .

I really don't think its forced humour at all, they are just a bunch of mates discussing football in a down to earth way like most of us do on a regular basis. They are genuine enthusiasts for the game too and make the profiles at the end highly entertaining in my opinion as a result. I think its a great listen and find myself laughing along to it quite frequently. Not in the same league as Football Weekly, but its a different type of show.

They have a few repetitive jokes but that's the norm even in the Football Weekly pod.

Kylo Ren

The lads are taking their time...

Cartman78

niallo24 wrote: »

I really don't think its forced humour at all, they are just a bunch of mates discussing football in a down to earth way like most of us do on a regular basis. They are genuine enthusiasts for the game too and make the profiles at the end highly entertaining in my opinion as a result. I think its a great listen and find myself laughing along to it quite frequently. Not in the same league as Football Weekly, but its a different type of show.

They have a few repetitive jokes but that's the norm even in the Football Weekly pod.

The Ramble is perfectly fine entertainment, can get a bit repetitive but every so often they will come out with something genuinely funny.

Best thing about it? No GAA analysts offering their opinions

Mitch Connor

Keno 92 wrote: »

The lads are taking their time...

They legally have to

Red Crow

niallo24 wrote: »

I really don't think its forced humour at all, they are just a bunch of mates discussing football in a down to earth way like most of us do on a regular basis. They are genuine enthusiasts for the game too and make the profiles at the end highly entertaining in my opinion as a result. I think its a great listen and find myself laughing along to it quite frequently. Not in the same league as Football Weekly, but its a different type of show.

They have a few repetitive jokes but that's the norm even in the Football Weekly pod.

It's not for me and I don't see the appeal. It's rubbish tbh. I think the casual chit chat and forced humour really destroy and easy-to-run idea. You get the impression that they are trying to ease into everything but ending up forcing it. I just can't stand listening to it. It's like they can't believe that they are making a podcast.

Banjaxed82

Who's the GAA guy on the show? He chips in on the football show too. He's a disaster anyway. He was going on last night (or night before) about the Austrian journalist who they where about to talk to: "Will he be speaking Austrian?"

Loving Jesus.

Fr Tod Umptious

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Who's the GAA guy on the show? He chips in on the football show too. He's a disaster anyway. He was going on last night (or night before) about the Austrian journalist who they where about to talk to: "Will he be speaking Austrian?"

Loving Jesus.

But if ken Early said it you would be laughing your hole off

Cartman78

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Who's the GAA guy on the show? He chips in on the football show too. He's a disaster anyway. He was going on last night (or night before) about the Austrian journalist who they where about to talk to: "Will he be speaking Austrian?"

Loving Jesus.

I'm guessing it's Colm Parkinson you're on about....sounds like the kinda shoyte he'd come out with. They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel imho....the only logical reason I can see for him being there is to make sure that Gilroy doesn't doze off in the middle of interviewing someone.

Have some analysts left/boycotted the show since the changeover? Don't listen as much as I used to but haven't heard Sid Lowe, Marcotti, Honigstein in a while (US Murph and Richie Sadlier also gone?) - anytime I turn on now it's either Pat Nevin or Graham Hunter bittering on or Roddy Collins talking thru his hoop about Spanish football

Fr Tod Umptious

Cartman78 wrote: »

I'm guessing it's Colm Parkinson you're on about....sounds like the kinda shoyte he'd come out with. They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel imho....the only logical reason I can see for him being there is to make sure that Gilroy doesn't doze off in the middle of interviewing someone.

Have some analysts left/boycotted the show since the changeover? Don't listen as much as I used to but haven't heard Sid Lowe, Marcotti, Honigstein in a while (US Murph and Richie Sadlier also gone?) - anytime I turn on now it's either Pat Nevin or Graham Hunter bittering on or Roddy Collins talking thru his hoop about Spanish football

I still listen to it the same amount as I did prior to the change over and to be honest I think it has been the same.
Then again I listened to it for the content rather than the hosts

Cartman78

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I still listen to it the same amount as I did prior to the change over and to be honest I think it has been the same.
Then again I listened to it for the content rather than the hosts

Same here, in fact I thought McDevitt and Ken could be extremely smug & smarmy at times.

I'd expected a change in tone when they left perhaps but the overall quality has fallen off a cliff imho.

LuckyLloyd

Wildly overrated show is now significantly underrated show. Such is life I guess.

T-K-O

Cartman78 wrote: »

Same here, in fact I thought McDevitt and Ken could be extremely smug & smarmy at times.

I'd expected a change in tone when they left perhaps but the overall quality has fallen off a cliff imho.

This turned me off the show in recents months

jive

Fair point about McDevitt and Early being smug, more so the latter IMO. I thought the smugness usually added to the stories he would tell where he would belittle some old German footballers opinions basically every other night. Despite the smugness I thought it added something to the dynamic between the 2 where they'd almost try to one up each other at times.

Murph is hilarious though and so is his faux-smugness. I miss the banter of challenge Murph. Tried listening to the new show but tbh didn't enjoy it much so haven't been listening lately; nothing against the hosts or anything but as people have pointed out it's not the same.

The only thing I really didn't like about the show was Giles but I'm definitely in the minority there. I was never really interested in what he was saying at all.

Hope the show comes back soon anyway in some form or another, it was usually good for a few laughs and was ideal for long car journeys; as good as TV for the spot of entertainment I thought!

RayCon

I've listened in a few time post the McDevitt / Early departure and found my mind wandering. Its not Gilroys fault - I like him ... but the selection of "side kicks" (mainly GAA blokes from what Ive listened to) just zones me out - there's no spark between Gilroy and whoever the other person is .. there's no personality in the show anymore.

Content might be OK , but it's pretty boring without presentation. It's a show - its role is to inform and entertain. Im just not getting entertained

Kylo Ren

Mitch Connor wrote: »

They legally have to

Ah I see. How long do they have to wait?

LuckyLloyd

Keno 92 wrote: »

Ah I see. How long do they have to wait?

Whatever is written into their contracts. They may have had to sign a competitive agreement, etc that prohibits their ability to work for another station for months.

atilladehun

I think I read 12 weeks somewhere

Rega

RayCon wrote: »

I've listened in a few time post the McDevitt / Early departure and found my mind wandering. Its not Gilroys fault - I like him ... but the selection of "side kicks" (mainly GAA blokes from what Ive listened to) just zones me out - there's no spark between Gilroy and whoever the other person is .. there's no personality in the show anymore.

Content might be OK , but it's pretty boring without presentation. It's a show - its role is to inform and entertain. Im just not getting entertained

Great point, well made. Gave the show a chance after the boys left but, honestly, I find it boring now. There isn't much craic anymore. Hopefully it'll pick up but I'm going to leave it for a while. Back to the shipping forecast for me!

patmac

I think it's great that Colm Parkinson is commenting on soccer now, in fact he is so good they should transfer him to this section full time....... so as to stop him from talking utter bollox in the GAA section.

Cartman78

patmac wrote: »

I think it's great that Colm Parkinson is commenting on soccer now, in fact he is so good they should transfer him to this section full time....... so as to stop him from talking utter bollox in the GAA section.

Don't know where the show is going with this GAA-Soccer Crossover/Assimilation but it's dire to listen to....what's next? Jonathon Wilson musing on Tipperary opting to play a false number 14? The Bundesliga Slot with David Brady and Jamesie O'Connor?

I know Ken wasn't everyone's cup of tea...was prone to talking thru his arse....was prone to trolling/obviously taking contrarion position...was prone to talking psuedo-intellectual waffle that he'd clearly read on Wikipedia earlier in the day....but Colm Parkinson and Daithi Reagan...wtf, ffs etc. :mad:

ballsymchugh

atilladehun wrote: »

I think I read 12 weeks somewhere

eoin has a 12 week gardening leave, the rest have 4 weeks, so if they live up to the hype, they should pop up somewhere in early april.

eagle eye

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Wildly overrated show is now significantly underrated show. Such is life I guess.

I don't look at ads at all and never heard anything about OTB until I tuned in one evening and listened to it. I really enjoyed it and always have since. Sometimes I didn't agree with what they did and sometimes I felt they went on too much about something(like the Lance Armstrong things a couple of months ago) but it was almost always great to listen to.

Since they left the show I have listened to it and been bored to tears. I don't listen to it anymore because its just no good compared to the old show.

I really hope the boys come back on the national airwaves somewhere. I'm sure Today FM or RTE Radio 1 could do worse than have them boys on.

Banjaxed82

What's with all the smug talk? Why do people take the whole thing so serious? They're only talking about sport for Christ's sake. It's just a bit of a laugh.

G1032

jive wrote: »

The only thing I really didn't like about the show was Giles but I'm definitely in the minority there. I was never really interested in what he was saying at all.

Well I for one am with you there. Got to the stage where I couldn't listen to him any more. I used to just turn it off when he came on.

jive

G1032 wrote: »

Well I for one am with you there. Got to the stage where I couldn't listen to him any more. I used to just turn it off when he came on.

Yeah I usually record the show on my phone so I can skip the ads... recently Gilesy has been falling under the 'ads' category cause i just couldn't be arsed listening to him anymore. Sound man and all but I zone out when he's on, big time

eagle eye

I always listened to Giles, while it wasn't extremely interesting there were some insights from him at times. Some great stuff about football back in his day and the differences between then and today.

The Davestator

Gilles just keeps saying the same thing every week. Not saying he's wrong but its getting boring at this stage.

-no such thing as a defensive midfielder
-No such thing as an attacking midfielder
-Paul Scholes is the only midfielder in the PL
-clubs shouldn't have a director of football
-fergie gets away with murder
-mind games are rubbish

And so on.

iregk

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

What's with all the smug talk? Why do people take the whole thing so serious? They're only talking about sport for Christ's sake. It's just a bit of a laugh.

Come on you know it at this stage? The Irish way: Someone does slightly well for themselves and they are a *anker that needs to be taken down a peg or too.

VinylJunkie

The Davestator wrote: »

Gilles just keeps saying the same thing every week. Not saying he's wrong but its getting boring at this stage.

-no such thing as a defensive midfielder
-No such thing as an attacking midfielder
-Paul Scholes is the only midfielder in the PL
-clubs shouldn't have a director of football
-fergie gets away with murder
-mind games are rubbish

And so on.

Not to mention his hard on for Arsenal's so called poor defense. Stats don't mean anything to the man.

G1032

VinylJunkie wrote: »

Not to mention his hard on for Arsenal's so called poor defense. Stats don't mean anything to the man.

Bottom line is Giles does absolutely no research at all. Doesn't seem to want to either. He just wings it when he's on these shows and sounds idiotic at times. What really really bugged me about his slot on OTB though was how the lads seemed to worship him. Agreed with mostly everything he said, never questioned him to any great degree. Just let him say what he liked no matter how ridiculous the comment was.

EdenHazard

VinylJunkie wrote: »

Not to mention his hard on for Arsenal's so called poor defense. Stats don't mean anything to the man.

'You can't look at the stats there Bill, you need to take each game on its merits there bill'

OneColdHand

G1032 wrote: »

Bottom line is Giles does absolutely no research at all. Doesn't seem to want to either. He just wings it when he's on these shows and sounds idiotic at times. What really really bugged me about his slot on OTB though was how the lads seemed to worship him. Agreed with mostly everything he said, never questioned him to any great degree. Just let him say what he liked no matter how ridiculous the comment was.

Oh come on, the lads on OTB knew exactly what he brought to the show. IMO they played up their love for him. Their format was the exact same all the time:

1. Ask him about something that happened in the last week in football, eg. Diving.
2. Let him talk about it for about 2 mins.
3. Say: 'It wasn't like that back in your day John, was it?'
4. Let him talk for about 15 minutes about his days under Don Revie

G1032

OneColdHand wrote: »

Oh come on, the lads on OTB knew exactly what he brought to the show. IMO they played up their love for him. Their format was the exact same all the time:

1. Ask him about something that happened in the last week in football, eg. Diving.
2. Let him talk about it for about 2 mins.
3. Say: 'It wasn't like that back in your day John, was it?'
4. Let him talk for about 15 minutes about his days under Don Revie

I don't think I ever heard them disagree with him. Never challenged him at all. It's just about the only aspect of the show that I didn't like. The lads on OTB just made themselves look like little puppy dogs lapping up all Giles said and seemed to have no opinion of their own when he was on the show.

OneColdHand

G1032 wrote: »

I don't think I ever heard them disagree with him. Never challenged him at all. It's just about the only aspect of the show that I didn't like. The lads on OTB just made themselves look like little puppy dogs lapping up all Giles said and seemed to have no opinion of their own when he was on the show.

You're right, I don't think I've ever heard them challenge him! But he's not there for his insight and opinion on current events in football. That's what they had Graham Hunter etc for. Gilesy is there to tell stories about the 1963 Cup Final that on one else remembers. That's why the lads don't bother challenging him no his opinion on current events, and just move him on quickly to telling stories about the good old days.

I can see how he might not be everyones cup of tea, but I like him for what he is.

Cartman78

I wouldn't be too hard on Gilesy - hearing him telling stories about his own career is a nice nostalgia trip every Thursday.

His opinions on current day stuff can be a bit samey though, and still waiting for his prophecy on Rooney being the best midfielder in England to come true.

Does he still say "Eoin" at the end of every sentence?