RTE's The Premiership in FourFourTwo

Short article in this month's FourFourTwo about the Premiership on RTE, very favorable too, if a little Dunphy-centric. Mentions the rants about Keane, the honesty of the pundits and how they compare to Lineker, Hansen, Wright, etc in England.
RTE have recently started to make their end of game analysis for Champion's League games available to view for everyone (some other clips are limited to Ireland) on their website , well worth a look for anyone deprived of Giles and the lads.

In the same issue, there's an article about the TedFest football 5-a-side to decide the location of Craggy Island between Inis Mor and Inis Oirr, with Aldridge and Cascarino the managers of the 2 sides.

"the honesty of the pundits"

How I hate that expression for the RTE panel. Since even before Jack Charlton, we have had the RTE Panel barely without exception launch professional but also personal attacks on whoever has been the Irish manager with no counter-opinion ever offered. It has been vindictive, negative and when dealing with international football wholly and embarrasssingly anti-English.

Furthermore, they are far removed from the English FA and they can say what they like about the English players etc. Mark Lawrenson got in trouble recently with the FA for some comments he made and Fergie refuses to give interviews to the BBC because of some negative comments that were made on the BBC.

By and large all you get from the RTE panel is mocking and snide remarks and a host of negativity. Liverpool go to Holland and win 3-0 away from home and all we get from Giles is negativity: barely a word of praise even though this was the team that knocked out Arsenal.

On and on they go with the same prejudices repeated at nauseum. Even Laughing Bill made yet another snide remark on the last programme about Charlton "does Benitez inhibit his team like Jack Charlton did with Ireland". I had to listen to years of these "honest" comments and it just does my head in.

It seems now to appear on the RTE Panel you have to take an oath to knock (a) the Irish manager (whoever he is), (b) the English game even if it's doing well and (c) anyone or anything that is perceived by the English media to be of some value.

Giles is a broken record, Dunphy is a baffoon and Brady is becoming an imitation of them both.

I profoundly disagree.

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we have had the RTE Panel barely without exception launch professional but also personal attacks on whoever has been the Irish manager with no counter-opinion ever offered.

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Back it up or pack it up. Personal attacks in relation to what? Staunton having no credentials to manage an international football team? Charlton going off on earners when he was supposed to be managing and preparing the team? McCarthys shrug-of-the-shoulders-and-sure-what-can-you-do acceptance that the FAI would always let the team down?
Those aren't personal attacks. They're points of fact.

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It has been vindictive, negative and when dealing with international football wholly and embarrasssingly anti-English.

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Anti-English media perhaps but hardly anti-English. If they challenge a widely propagated and pumped English Media delusion that they deserve to be winning everything they qualify for then they're to be congratulated for it.

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Furthermore, they are far removed from the English FA and they can say what they like about the English players etc. Mark Lawrenson got in trouble recently with the FA for some comments he made and Fergie refuses to give interviews to the BBC because of some negative comments that were made on the BBC.

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Lawro and whoever on BBC should be able to say what they like about the English team as well without the very real threat that contracts will be awarded to competitors who'll talk up sub-standard players, teams and performances.

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By and large all you get from the RTE panel is mocking and snide remarks and a host of negativity. Liverpool go to Holland and win 3-0 away from home and all we get from Giles is negativity: barely a word of praise even though this was the team that knocked out Arsenal.

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Now you either watched different coverage than I did or you're only hearing the bits that back up your inclinations. Giles gave wholesome praise of a professional job done by Liverpool ...pointing out that they'll have to be better again to win the competition isn't negative. It's a fact.

Personally I'd rather watch the RTE panel give their opinions on a game before ITV, Sky, Setanta, TV3 (goes without saying) and the Beeb, but I have to say that the BBC team have had their hands tied in the last couple of years do the growing influence of the Big 4 teams on the FA, and due to not being ablke to criticise the English national team. Didn't they lose the rights to live FA Cup and England international games recently for, apparantly, being overly critical of Steve McLaren and the team? Disgraceful if true.

I don't understand why another would listen to pundits opinions anyway as they change their views every week. On the otherhand BBC are watchable as they are concise spending a few minutes on a topic where RTE will take 20 minutes.

If you compare RTEs Premiership with BBCs Match of the Day i would wager you see twice as much football on BBC & that not explained by lack of ad breaks.

I watched RTE for Man Utd's match with Roma and unless you support Man Utd and have no interest in other league's it's just frustrating to watch. 90% of us on this forum would know more about Roma than these "experts". I don't want to watch 15 minutes analysis on Ronaldo. I'd like someone there to analyse Roma instead of Giles basically saying he doesn't know a lot about them. That's fine for an English channel but I can't imagine the French, German or Spanish pundits just focussing on Man Utd for half an hour.

Bill announced last Wednesday's matches as:
"Man Utd v Roma, Chelsea v Valencia"

Petty but it sums it up for me.

I'd much prefer to watch Sky for a Champions league match involving an English club. It'll be interesting to watch RTE tomorrow night as they're showing Bayern-Milan. They'll probably just go over the previous nights match again.

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

I profoundly disagree.


Back it up or pack it up. Personal attacks in relation to what? Staunton having no credentials to manage an international football team? Charlton going off on earners when he was supposed to be managing and preparing the team? McCarthys shrug-of-the-shoulders-and-sure-what-can-you-do acceptance that the FAI would always let the team down?
Those aren't personal attacks. They're points of fact.

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"He's one of the biggest whingers in world football... he's a bloody eejit." Dunphy on McCarthy. Perhaps you will tell me that's not a personal attack. I don't have all day to source the personal and unrelenting attacks there have been on all Irish managers in my lifetime. Dunphy portrayed Charlton as an Andy Cap figure accompanied by a cartoon in the Sunday Indo many years ago and then he is two faced to attack the British tabloids for doing the same thing on their stars.

What has always bothered me (and I suspect people are sick of seeing me write this) is RTE's lack of balance. At least now with Trevor Steven you get some sort of balanced view, but with Father Time Giles, Grumpy Brady and the Buffoon Dunphy it's the same old, same old. As DangerHere says about Dunphy:

Eamo’s favoured guff technique involves picking an Irish national team manager, chucking a biro across a studio and roaring a random selection of the following adjectives: congenital loser, sham, embarrassment, scurvy pup, wagon, spoofer, decentskin, imposter, bully.

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Anti-English media perhaps but hardly anti-English. If they challenge a widely propagated and pumped English Media delusion that they deserve to be winning everything they qualify for then they're to be congratulated for it.

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Anti-English. So much so that they got a host of complaints after their coverage of the English games. Should the panel of a national broadcaster rejoice and worse gloat when a neighbour's team is knocked out? I suspect there would have been less celebrations on Palestinian TV whenever Israel are beaten?

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Lawro and whoever on BBC should be able to say what they like about the English team as well without the very real threat that contracts will be awarded to competitors who'll talk up sub-standard players, teams and performances.

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They should but it appears they can't. The RTE Panel are under no such restraints.

http://sport.independent.co.uk/footb...cle2407992.ece

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Now you either watched different coverage than I did or you're only hearing the bits that back up your inclinations. Giles gave wholesome praise of a professional job done by Liverpool ...pointing out that they'll have to be better again to win the competition isn't negative. It's a fact.

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I certainly didn't hear any "wholesome praise". I heard the words "professional job" being put to him which he responded to and agreed it was but then went on to criticise. He then went on the attack next day in the Herald attacking Benitez. He's negative so much of the time. He usually only praises when he wants to have a dig at someone, like Scoles to show up Ronaldo etc

So OwlsFan, you don't like them then?

If a pundit is supposed to be an expert surely he should be expected to do a bit of research on the non-english team for the sake of balance. Instead will get the same tired Italian football cliches tonight "they are good defensively..."

:rolleyes:

The rte boys are absolute rubbish,
its the same utter nonsense coming out of their mouths every week.
they change their opinion's on a teams entire season every 45 minutes,

giles cant pronounce anyones names ala "borash" and "laronso" ligning up for liverpool in 05,
Brady's seems withdrawn and completely uninterested unless the gunners are playing,
Dunphy is a complete sham, his predictions are laughable, "Ronaldo's not a footballer, hes a clown" what rubbish...

and above all their combined knowledge of any team/league outside the english premiership is non existent

I for one watch the match, form my own opinion and change over before the massacre of punditry begins.

anything is better than the BBC and ITV's efforts. How I'd love to watch RTE over in England, I might disagree with em on some things but at least they have opinions and not afraid to rant about it. The yes men on the BBC make my stomach churn. Analysis you can forget it, it's just back slapping and the odd little in joke...... Hansen thought England had 9 WORLD CLASS players before the world cup and was then gobsmacked to see them get knocked out at the Q finals stage!!! It has only finally dawned on these 'experts' that the Premier League (especially it's English stars) is a little overated.

just wanted to add that if you want to see what a truly great football pundit looks like, just look at James Richardson's coverage of Italian football. It used to be on Channel 4, but moved to Bravo, don't know if they are still showing it anymore though

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

"the honesty of the pundits"

How I hate that expression for the RTE panel. Since even before Jack Charlton, we have had the RTE Panel barely without exception launch professional but also personal attacks on whoever has been the Irish manager with no counter-opinion ever offered. It has been vindictive, negative and when dealing with international football wholly and embarrasssingly anti-English.

Furthermore, they are far removed from the English FA and they can say what they like about the English players etc. Mark Lawrenson got in trouble recently with the FA for some comments he made and Fergie refuses to give interviews to the BBC because of some negative comments that were made on the BBC.

By and large all you get from the RTE panel is mocking and snide remarks and a host of negativity. Liverpool go to Holland and win 3-0 away from home and all we get from Giles is negativity: barely a word of praise even though this was the team that knocked out Arsenal.

On and on they go with the same prejudices repeated at nauseum. Even Laughing Bill made yet another snide remark on the last programme about Charlton "does Benitez inhibit his team like Jack Charlton did with Ireland". I had to listen to years of these "honest" comments and it just does my head in.

It seems now to appear on the RTE Panel you have to take an oath to knock (a) the Irish manager (whoever he is), (b) the English game even if it's doing well and (c) anyone or anything that is perceived by the English media to be of some value.

Giles is a broken record, Dunphy is a baffoon and Brady is becoming an imitation of them both.

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Alex Ferguson has refused to do interviews since the BBC implicated his son in what they seen as irregular transfer dealings.

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Originally Posted by jebus

just wanted to add that if you want to see what a truly great football pundit looks like, just look at James Richardson's coverage of Italian football. It used to be on Channel 4, but moved to Bravo, don't know if they are still showing it anymore though

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Yes he was great. I haven't seen that show in years but I hope he's still doing it.

Boy did I enjoy last night. At the beginning we had Giles predicting a Roma win, followed by Brady with the usual "I agree with John" followed by the even more predictable "I wholeheartedly agree with John" from the Buffoon. Once again we had the sight of all 3 RTE panelists agreeing with each other (same old, same old). That's what really gets me. People say it's great debate etc on the RTE Panel but the Roy Keane debacle aside, they 95% of the time agree with each other. There is seldom a debate. They all sing from the same hymm sheet. The English Premiership is rubbish, Ronaldo is rubbish, Italian teams are great defensively, the Irish manager (insert name of whichever incumbent) is rubbish etc etc

I honestly can't remember (the Keane thing aside) when Dunphy last disagreed with Giles on any matter. I know they are supposed to be analysists but their predictions are I'd say wrong 70% of the time. I think they misread nearly every game in the World Cup and had written Italy and France off early in the tournament and before Lionel Ritchie asks me to prove that, we just have to go the World Cup threads.

Last night Giles fell back on his standard "We can only go on what we have seen previously, Bill" when he gets things wholly incorrect. But football isn't just about how a team played in the last few weeks. It's about history, the occasion, emotions left over from the last game, hunger etc etc and forgetting your bias about the English game. The squirming of the panel will keep me happy until the next game where they will await in ambush for Ronaldo to have a stinker and then the negativity about him will start again. Who cares if Alex Ferguson said he was the best in the world? So what? He's an entertainer who can be poor sometimes and who can be great other times - do we have to devote half a programme to knocking him? But then again that's what the RTE Panel does best: knocking.

Are they that anti Ronaldo? The guy is untouchable at the moment. Last night was magestic. Alan Smith and Fletcher were bloody brilliant and I never though I'd say that!

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Boy did I enjoy last night.
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Somehow I thought you might.:)

To be fair though they put their hands up ...I suppose with MU 4-0 up anything else would've been just silly.

If I can have a quick one and a half pence worth myself ...Roma were shockin'. Man City would've beaten them 5-0 last night, Fulham by about 3-1 and Leeds would've nicked it at the death. I can't think of a poorer display in the era of the CL. But credit to Man Utd they took them apart in style.

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Originally Posted by shakermaker1982

Are they that anti Ronaldo? The guy is untouchable at the moment. Last night was magestic. Alan Smith and Fletcher were bloody brilliant and I never though I'd say that!

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He was crucified in previous games with clips showing him losing the ball or scuffing shots. I don't think he's the best in the world either but to devote large segments of the discussion to all three panelists jeering him because SAF (his manager) said he's best in the world, is typical of them. Like dogs with a bone.

As a friend of mine has commented in an e-mail to me:


Dunphy said smugly before the game, while laughing at and writing off Ronaldo yet again, that Ronaldo may come good and he could have egg on his face in 2 hours. He had the full 5 (or maybe 7) egg omelette on his pretty face but still seemed unable to accept what the rest of us see, a player who in the past 18 months has at last delivered on his promise, someone who is offering an end product and not just step-overs. To hark on about him not being the best in the world is nonsense, who says he is? SAF? Well he would he not? But who cares? The "best in the world" issue is a side issue but was used a reason to mock, while ignoring what the guy did on the field. No doubt they are looking forward to him having a bad game in the semis and they can tell us they were right all along.

Apples and oranges. Match of the Day doesn't cover Irish soccer. I'm sure Hansen et al. would have lots of things to say about how the FAI or the IFA runs things or how crap they thought our best players were.

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Leeds would've nicked it at the death

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Lets not get silly Lionel! ;)

Anyway, for two ABU cents I think Dunphy was and is spot on about Ronaldo. All this garbage about him being the best player in the world, and being up there with the all-time greats is completely over the top, tabloid sensationalism. He's a good, if a bit predictable player, who has great talent, but he lacks the spark that the Zidanes and Maradonas of this world had to set them apart