Newstalk: Off The Ball

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363860#Comment_121363860

Ah yeah, you can always split it into 3 categories:

1. Those who will buy it no matter the cost (within reason)
2. Those who will sit on the fence and buy it but their decision is heavily dependent on the cost
3. Those who wouldn't pay anything for it

You're trying to find the optimum balance to get the most amount of money from group 2. You will never get anywhere near 100% conversion from free listeners to paid. Look at Second Captains, they were getting around 100k unique listeners a week. Getting to 10-15% of that took quite a while and bucks the trend. OTB I believe have made a balls of it so far but their model may still be working for them.

left_hander

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363187#Comment_121363187

Those figures are very arbitary! I'd say you can take a couple of zeroes off the first and then you might have the reality.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363960#Comment_121363960

This is the real situation. I'd rename your categories

1. Suckers
2. Measured people, happy to pay a reasonable price for good content (ME)
3. Paul Murphy brigade

If you start with a subscription model, you start with a low price and deliver good content - and make it quality stuff, where people say "I am happy to pay for the top presenter and great guest on whatever sport you like". Then, when you reach a critical mass you add an extra euro to their subscription and people say "yeah, I like their stuff so I'm happy to do so".

Not throwing the Crappy Quiz onto a podcast and a load of other crap and expecting them to pay €10 a month.

pc7

Their price point was way off compared to day the 42 (which I pay for yearly) or SecondCaptains (I tap in and out of, paid during RWC will again probably for 6N and end of season as enjoyed extra content outside of free pod).

I did the free month of OTB and honestly don’t miss it now, it’s not worth €10, they should have done pick and mix, I’d have paid a fiver for say rugby and Sunday paper review. I’ve no interest in soccer/GAA, slight tangent or crappy quiz. I really think they over did it.

gluppers

That Mick guy on Off the ball needs to give his opinion more

StuttgartKY

New racing podcast from them now, first half of it free and then the 2nd half for subscribers only so maybe thats a sign of the strategy changing a bit.

But again I think this is just more of the same from OTB so many podcasts coming and going, and all of poorish quality e.g the f1 show. This racing pod would be far better as just a proper slot on the actual show on a friday night instead of a needless further podcast. And would also spare us having John Duggan dressing up in his flat cap and promising to “bring the craic”

Mr Disco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121381323#Comment_121381323

Duggan is truly a halfwit

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394109#Comment_121394109

We're OTB saying Kenny has been unlucky as Ireland manager?

Jesus.....

Gusser09

Collins

Bazunu

Ogbene

Ebolese

Ferguson

All players who can play in the PL or a top european league.

Along with

Smallbone

Obafemi

Omabamadele

O shea

Cullen

Knight

Players who can make a differ

We're not as poor as some are making out. We badly need young Moran to push on.

However kenny failed to deal with the fact that midfield is our weak link and he kept trying to play through them. Utter madness. Otb fail to mention or focus on his inability to change systems.

There are no serious excuses for how poor the guy has done. He has set us back even further.

siblers

Kenny was unlucky during Covid, especially the false positives. He was unlucky to get such a **** draw but he's been woefully out of his depth. He's also coming across very petty having pops at previous managers' performances

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394239#Comment_121394239

I'm pretty sure a large portion of people are completely unsurprised at how badly he did. He's completely out of his depth as he's never had any experience of top level football in any way.

He was completely delusional about himself propped up by the sycophantic LOI fans.The delusions of the LOI fans can be summed up from this quote from the below piece by Eamonn Sweeney in the Independent when he says:

"What is Kenny going to learn from managing the Irish U-21 team that he hasn't already learned with Dundalk in Europe?"

Eamonn Sweeney: 'FAI's Irish solution to an Irish problem leaves Stephen Kenny in no-man's land'

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/eamonn-sweeney-fais-irish-solution-to-an-irish-problem-leaves-stephen-kenny-in-no-mans-land/37564821.html

Apparently managing a bunch of semi-professionals who play at a standard similar to the 5th tier in the English game and play once every 3 or 4 years a couple of games against a good European team , provides the same experience as managing the u-21 team who compete against the best u-21 teams from all across Europe.

If Kenny had been left in charge of the u-19/u-21 team for 5 or 6 years and showed some positive results and developed as a coach he might have been a good manager for the senior side but the FAI stupidly thought throwing him in at the deep end was a better idea.

Kenny also was quoted early on in his reign of saying he wanted to change the perception of Irish football internationally which shows an insane degree of delusional as 1 nobody outside of Ireland gives a fiddlers about Irish football and 2 he obviously thought he was some sort of tactical whizz who could transform Ireland.

If he'd been more pragmatic as manager he might have had some chance of success.He clearly had no idea how difficult international football is which of course is not unexpected as he has had no experience of top level football before as either a player or manager.

If they ant to use the LOI as a pathway for developing coaches for the national team (like maybe for Duff in th future) then it needs to be done by bringing them in from the LOI to first to coach in the underage ranks and working their way up to the senior team.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394373#Comment_121394373

If they ant to use the LOI as a pathway for developing coaches for the national team (like maybe for Duff in th future) then it needs to be done by bringing them in from the LOI to first to coach in the underage ranks and working their way up to the senior team

Wasn't that pretty much tried exactly with Brian Kerr?

Think the success or otherwise of the coach of the national team is going to continue to be heavily influenced by the caliber of player available. And our average club level for the players who make up the team has been dropping consistently for the last 30 years. From being big players at big premier league clubs to fringe players at lower level premier league clubs to non-spectacular players at championship level clubs.

cullenswood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394379#Comment_121394379

A lot of the non top tier countries are made up of players that play at those levels. The Championship is still a very high level....in the past the Premier League wouldn't have had the amount of players from outside of Britain and Ireland so it makes sense that more of them could play at the top level.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394379#Comment_121394379

Kerr had experience of international football with all the underage teams he was coaching for Ireland for years so he had served a proper apprenticeship .Ireland were at least competitive under Kerr and got some decent results.

cheese sandwich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394640#Comment_121394640

He was also much less of a spoofer than Kenny, and came across much better in his media performances. In fairness though he did have much better players

Brock Turnpike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394640#Comment_121394640

Kerr had a set of players that would piss all over our current squad. At least have a bit of context to what you're saying.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121395385#Comment_121395385

He did have a better squad, but Kenny has made the current group look an awful lot worse than they are.Almost all of our players now are with clubs in the premier league and top half of the championship.

padd b1975

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121394239#Comment_121394239

Tough draws are the norm now with our seeding and world ranking.

Brock Turnpike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121395568#Comment_121395568

Again you're lacking context. Bar Evan Ferguson, the rest of our PL players are playing for some of the worst PL teams we've ever seen. Our players aren't good and their clubs/status at those clubs shows that.

Kenny not having the team playing as well as they can or above themselves is a different issue.

Musicrules

Kenny never accepts any responsibility for the dismal results and performances served up during his tenure. Always an excuse or throwing the players under the bus. That's one thing but then to be throwing dirt at previous managers and having ready made lines like never beating a top sead away from home thing and how hard it is.

We all know it's not easy to beat teams like that away from home but we've managed wins against Austria, Wales and France in recent years. And we've had very decent draws. Let's not forget, Kenny hasn't picked up a single away from home against the top 2 seeds in any Nation's League or qualification group. That's 0 out of a possible 24 points. Even against the 4th seeds in our groups, he's only picked up 4 points out of 12 away from home.

He's an absolute embarrassment and I can't wait till he's sacked now. The players aren't as bad as made out. It is hard to judge them at international level because they've had such an incompetent manager in charge. The problem is that the FAI are completely useless and cash strapped. Doesn't lead to having much optimism for the next appointment.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121396736#Comment_121396736

But being on the worst premier league teams today are better than playing on a mid-table team 20 years ago considering the squashing of talent into the top leagues compared to the past. People arguing our team was so good in the 80's we had players winning titles with Liverpool ,Everton,Arsenal forget that back in the day the English league consisted solely of all the best players in UK and Ireland, now it consists of the best players from around the world.

We may not have the best selection of players we've ever had, but Kenny has made them look a hell of a lot worse than they are.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121396256#Comment_121396256

Of which Kenny takes a large share of the blame. Doing awful in the nations league etc, watching the ranking plummet.

dmakc

Is Michael McCarthy Clare or a Dub? Confused

pc7

Subscriptions must be tanking, Red78 pod appeared in my feed, had totally forgotten about it. Turns out it was half the episode and said to subscribe to listen to rest. I really think this was a bad move.

Mr Disco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402140#Comment_121402140

How so?

pc7

If it was going so well would they be releasing pods free (outside of 3 free ones) to try get you in and to subscribe. I fell the whole way it was done and the price has been a balls up.

YabaDabaDooley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402071#Comment_121402071

I've heard him mention he supports Clare hurlers a few times although dorsn't sound like he's from there. He's some dose though, i tuned in from 19.00 - 19.15 tonight and i had to turn off with his overbearing waffle and incredibly annoying laugh at absolutley nothing.

Thinking it was Thursday i turned it back on at 19.30 expecting to hear John Giles as that's about the only thing i tune into on a weekly basis (and the Saturday football show) but it was someone talking about the Katie Taylor fight which i didn't know was on this Saturday and have no interest in anyway. I immediately switched it off permanently for the night.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402071#Comment_121402071

I think he's from Dublin but 1 or both of his parents are originally from Clare hence the link, same with John Duggan he's a Dub with a Clare father and Limerick mother so seems to support Dublin in football and Clare in hurling like Michael McCarthy.

deisedude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402140#Comment_121402140

Ya Football pod appeared in mine yesterday and they said they will have a Monday pod free and the other behind the paywall

Acosta

Watched some of OTB AM yesterday for the first time in months. Just my luck that the producer, Boohig was co-presenting. He's bloody horrendous. Sheahan looked like he wished he'd stayed in Argentina.

scottser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402287#Comment_121402287

Listening to Johnny Giles is a bit of a car crash nowadays. Its like NT keep him on as a charity case because he offers little insight into the game. He really should just hang it up at this stage.

Jack Daw

Saw some short clip on youtube where Richie McCormack seems to be trying to make us all feel sorry for Stephen Kenny now and how his departure was handled.

Kenny was getting paid €500k per annum , he's pretty much set for life now financially and and you might feel some degree of sympathy for Kenny if he wasn't so whiny and tried to blame everyone else bar himself for the team being so rubbish . The fact that the media in general have been so protective of Kenny shows that deep down they know he's not very good and never was good enough because if they thought he had the requisite qualifications to be the manager they wouldn't be so patronizing towards him.

liam7831

Anyone hear David Connolly last Sun afternoon he was hilariously bad

Gusser09

Giles is poor nowadays and has been for 10 years.

Coolcormack1979

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402840#Comment_121402840

Richie was very grumpy this evening and as for the clown from Clare he just wants everyone to move on and kenny is still hard done by .the fanboys in otb are gutted that they’ve been found out again

Absolute farce over the last few days. Kenny was a complete and utter failure and they are still making excuses. Cancelled the subscription after listening to that sh*te.

Musicrules

The problem is that these Kenny supporters will be out in force if/when we get bad results with our next manager. Some will actually hope it goes wrong for them. It really has been a poisonous few years following Ireland and listening to the absolute crap of how great Kenny was doing despite what we were seeing with our own eyes. Well we're now down to 60th in the World rankings, some of our best emerging players in a generation have been brought into a losing culture, bereft of confidence where excuses for failure and poor performances were accepted.

The new manager has some tough job turning it around. It can't get worse than Kenny but expect Off the ball and his other media pals to be on the back of the new manager from day 1.

cmac2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402861#Comment_121402861

He's woeful and he's on the Saturday football show quite a bit unfortunately.

Beechwoodspark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402588#Comment_121402588

Johnny has been like this for years, he prefers to go back to the 70s and tell anecdotes of Leeds, Don Revie and Clough.

He uses catch all general phrases like player x or manager y is not “doing the business” - a lot.

However, any time he is asked about the “John Giles Foundation” and its connections with Delaney era FAI, Gilesy immediately goes on the defensive and gets very waspish.

People should have a read of Mark Tighe’s pieces on the Giles Foundation - very odd arrangements...

It depends on who interviews John, Nathan appears to just go through the motions. Regardless, it's still a more interesting segment for many than some of the other topics discussed.

scottser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121403646#Comment_121403646

Again, no genuine insight into the game and he frequently either can't remember or pronounce players' names. It just comes across as really unprofessional. Nathan does indeed sound bored of his yanzie talking to Johnny.

leath_dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121403937#Comment_121403937

johnny does zero research for that slot. If. he hasn't. seen a player/gam recently on the telly, he has very little to contribute. It has always been thus.

Brock Turnpike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121403516#Comment_121403516

Odd comment to make considering you literally had people gloating in the ROI thread about Kenny not being good enough as soon as he was appointed.

amlinopta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121403980#Comment_121403980

Johnny turned 83 earlier this month, not up to speed on the current game, understandably forgetful on names etc. The Thursday slot will hopefully finish up sooner rather than later, wouldn't like to hear Johnny struggling any more than he may be at the moment

I'd get a ban if I was honest....but even in its current state I'd rather 25mins be spent waffling to John than some of the topics that are being discussed. I agree with all the criticism but they are obviously due to the age of the man. If you want cutting edge there are plenty options.

leath_dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121404224#Comment_121404224

I don't think John was ever known for doing a whole pile of research, even when he wasn't long retired. Dunphy and Giles featured as a double act in Dermot Morgan's "Scrap Saturday". Any time Giles was asked for a comment, all he ever said was " Great player, great player" 😊

Some of his observations are very interesting, I have to say - but the game he played has very little relevance to the "product" the modern game has been turned into

Exactly, he shouldn't be compared to the stat bots who often just recycle the opinion they've heard elsewhere in the 24/7 world of podcasts and fan channels. Mostly quite boring.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121403996#Comment_121403996

I'm not sure you used the word gloating correctly. Were people stating he wasn't good enough? Every manager should be given a chance. It turns out those posters were correct with their statements though. It's a pity we had to go through almost 4 years of wasted time with Kenny. We don't even have a play off for the Euros to look forward to. That's how bad it's been under Kenny. We're miles behind where we were when he took over, that's how you measure the performance of a manager and the bar was already quite low when he took over.

CatFromHue

Giles is knocking on a bit and is a bit forgetful but I still like the slot. There's a bit of nostalgia to it which is nice.

Brock Turnpike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121404882#Comment_121404882

I'll level with you... I was very hungover when posting that. I meant to say people were gloating every time we lost as soon as Kenny took over.

RINO87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121405665#Comment_121405665

Exactly!! Agree with this and what an earlier poster said about the current crop just constantly quoting stats. If you are listening to John for cutting edge insight then you are listiening to the wrong thing. The slot is there so we can hear a player from a totally different era, but basically the same game, make comparisons to todays game and how it is so different.

The man is a national hero, and by jesus we shall miss him when he is gone!