So, on Monday the Dunph will return to our airwaves.

I must be one of the few people who, contra all the hype, neither love nor hate the man. He is a brave broadcaster at times (dissing Charlton at the height of his power took balls) and has a certain growly charisma I suppose, yet by no means the great contrarian and intellectual force he likes to think he is. I can't really think of a single really meaningful argument or substantial work of real intellectual substance outside of football that he has produced - the image has become the reality.


Having heard the endless trailers on Newstalk (which have begun to dim my love for Rebel Rebel, one of my fave Bowie songs) I noticed that many of his little sound bites are very, well, obvious. What's his favourite city? Paris! Who's his alltime sporting hero? Muhammad Ali! Are these the choices of a man swimming against the tide of received opinion? I think not.