Did everyone miss on saturday night when bill said "But what about steven reid?" and then dunphy goes "But bill, he's english"
Im done with that panel, i'd prefer to watch analysis on sky these days, which is sad reall
I'll just throw in that hired experts in any profession should not be less informed on the subject than a large portion of their audience.
Giles repeats the same lines over and over, forgets basic information and has a very small knowledge pool. Same with Ronnie Whelan who seems to know nothing other than Liverpool in depth. Souness just complains about everything usually without a valid reason. Dunphy is ill-informed but entertaining.
Cunningham is the only pundit who I'd praise for their knowledge and the only one who I don't cringe every time they offer their "insight".
Which is really poor since whenever I watch Football, Hurling or Rugby they've all got panels who know far more about the subject than I do, there's no crap the people there are actual experts. Why do RTE feel it necessary to fill the soccer panel with morons over and over again?
As an extra I'll add that I like Pat Dolan on Setanta, he knows what he's talking about at the very least.
Did everyone miss on saturday night when bill said "But what about steven reid?" and then dunphy goes "But bill, he's english"
Im done with that panel, i'd prefer to watch analysis on sky these days, which is sad reall
Just discount his last line as an aberration.
I think the hurling pundits are geniuses but the thing is though, I know féck all about hurling.
Dolan had a real rant against Trapp on The Hub. Apparently Trapp said that an Italian team wouldn't give away a goal in the last minute and he then listed all the Italian teams that have over the past 20 years. The kernel of the matter is that he objects to a Johnny foreigner being an Irish manager.
As for the RTE panel, people don't seem to realise that this is what the panel has been doing since 1988: crucifying whatever Irish manager is in charge with NO BALANCE and with a Laughing Idiot as the anchor who knows nothing about football. Remember this is the panel who took it upon themselves to interview Paul Jewell for the manager's job. He was subsequently sacked by Derby by the way, having got them relegeated and fighting for survival in the Championship![]()
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Dolan is trying to clone Dunphy
Look how much Dunphy has made from damning every manager.
If Dunphy was manager himself he would slag himself off in the media for a few pound.
Bill O' has been shocking as a host, he just laughs off the ludicrious rantings of Lord Haw Haw, and asks too many rhetorical questions, real no-brainers. What a Langer!
I particularly like their new webcast section it's particularly cringeworthy. Worst punditry related sh*te I've seen since Andy Townsend's tactics van.
If Ugly Grumpy feels so strongly about Andy Reid, why did he not apply for the job when Stan got the boot? And if he messed up, let the voice of the nation turn on that small miscreant.
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn!!
When I say Dolan knows what he's talking about I mean in a knowledge sense. He knows who every player is, how they play, who they play for etc and isn't incredibly premier league centric like some pundits, he has a wide range of knowledge.
Giles and Dunphy are especially guilty of ignorance towards non-premier league players and wind up bluffing their way through analysis.
That said Dolan still has some ridiculous views but that doesn't really bother me. I'm fine with disagreeing with pundits, they're usually there to have strong opinions to broadcast. What I'm not fine with is pundits confusing players or not knowing anything about players or worse pretending to know about a player or team and coming up with complete horse crap.
To be fair it's easy to criticise in retrospect. Must of us would have been happy with Jewell being appointed at the time of this, considering the alternatives appeared to be the likes of Veneables......
He's a decent manager and struggling to turn around a side with rock bottom confidence doesn't really take away all he did at Wigan.
The agenda to prevent Terry Venables getting the job and giving it to Paul Jewell instead demonstrated just how out of touch the current RTE panel is.
Ask any 'serious football person' to borrow a Dunphy phrase, who they would choose as manager between Venables and Jewell and it's a no brainer, Venables every time.
Jewell has managed what? Most of his career has been outside the top flight. A couple years with Wigan where they struggled to stay up, then leaving them and going to manage a Derby team who were destined for relegation, demonstrating his shockingly poor judgement.
On the other hand you have Venables, who from what I remember (and reading his wiki page) managed Barcelona to a couple of League titles in Spain as well as a European Cup final. He lead Tottenham Hotpsur to win the FA cup. He managed QPR to the FA cup final while they were still a second division team. After promotion, they finished 5th in the old First Division. He brought Crystal Palace from the 3rd division to 1st division in a few years. He managed England to the semi finals of Euro 1996, having hammered a very good Dutch team along the way and were unlucky to lose in the semis. Whatever about the personality of Venables, his football pedigree is there for all to see.
It's as if Giles and Dunphy want the worst for the Irish team and supporters, not the best.
Paul Jewell as Irish manager, it just beggers belief, and the sad thing is the two loudmouths almost got their way.
Thankfully, it Was Liam Brady who got us Trapattoni, one of the greatest managers in European Club history, who has played and managed his entire career at the top end of club and international football, an arena Dunphy has only glimpsed from a TV studio. While Dunphy was partying in Lillies and looking for 'good coke', Trapattoni was winning Scudetto and European Cups. He is still the only manager to have won the triple of European Cup, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup.
Is it too much to ask that the panelists actually have first hand experience of what they are talking about, rather than trying to make out that beating the Italians should be easy.
Last edited by Emmet7; 12/10/2009 at 11:01 PM.
This is absolutely the right approach and please check my blog for a concerted attempt to voice my opinion on this subject for two years. Saturday was a great night with fans that clearly and deeply care, but my opinion is the panel are agenda driven and dont care. The Liverpool song against Gillett and Hicks comes to mind...
Had a read of your blog Craig, fair play it's pretty good.
Agree about the structured approach. Watching a Trap team is like watching a chess master in action. Hours of tedious, cautious play and then suddenly a brillant decision that no-one else spotted and which leaves everyone scratching their heads or a sudden break from the normal that catches the opponent unawares, such as the Lawrence freekick.
Marcello Lippi is a suburb manager. I am sure he had his team all prepared for setpieces, and Lawrence and Whelan made the Italian defenders, most of whom are top players playing in the Champions League, look like Sunday League players. It was beautiful to watch.
Another classic Trap game was the 1985 European Cup Final. Liverpool dominating the game, all over Juventus, the Italians soaking up the pressue and then one long ball latched onto by Platini who races through and is fouled and converts the penalty. Game over, the greatest English team of the century taken apart in seconds.
Give me a 1 - 0 win any day to a 3 - 2 loss / moral victory, the sort previous generations of Irish players are still dining out on.
Last edited by Emmet7; 12/10/2009 at 11:33 PM.
Dunphy is a Skinny Little Rat according to Stephen Hunt... brillant! this one is really heating up now....
On another note Pat Dolan but on a moronic display on Setanta the other night.... still in disbelief that a league of Ireland manager (Kerr) got sacked from the Job... a Blinkered Fat Idealist and a Skinny Rat - this is simply a great side show!
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