on the subject of punditry:
gary imlach on eurosport was really good i thought when doing the african cup of nations last month .
i remember his punditry when channel 4 had coverage of the american football which was always worth tuning in for.
and his book on his da is a belter as well
Shamrock Rovers- Where trophies are won and envy is scarce
'Fascists dress in black and go round telling people what to do, where as priests.....'
For all yuo Jeff Stelling fans:
http://www.411mania.com/ubbthreads/s...3&Main=5649548
Lads check out newstalk and under the downloads section on the off the ball programme (its blocked in work so cant post the link), theres a clip of the rte lads straight after the romania game - brillant stuff!! Bill with his green 'clapping hands' hat on him is priceless!!
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I was 11 during Italia 90 so prolly didn't even know the meaning of the word hypocrite at the time that the memory was formed, it's just that when ever I think about italia 90 I'll always remember Packie Gritting his teeth before hoofing the ball towards sheedy for the equaliser against England, George Hamilton's " Timofte against Bonner ....Yeh" and again Hamilton " A nation holds it's breath......We're There!" and then Bill O' with his "Big Green Clapping Hat" grinning and saying "Fantastic .....wasn't it"
A family friend will have slightly different memories though... we were watching the game in the Spa Hotel in Lucan and when Packie saved the Peno the place went mental (obviously) and during the Melee someone wearing stiletto heals jumped into the air and landed heal first on said family friends ankle(the stiletto went clean through the fleshy part of the ankle above the heel) she did eventually walk again after 4 operations
Therein lies the difference. The 3 of them were pi**ing on my dreams and did so for years, including the Mick Mc era. I had lived through years of failure and now, when we had at last qualified and doing well, RTE decided to employ a clown, an ex-pro who repreated himself as nauseum, both of whom just viciously slagged off the managers and a compere who never challenged their views and in fact encouraged them and whose sole contribution was to just laugh at the buffoon's jokes, all in the name of entertainment.
No contrary opinion was ever put in place and that's what was really annoying. No balance.
Plus ca change.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Perhaps you're right! but then again considering the Midfield that Ireland had going to Italia 90 Maybe just Maybe (I know hindsight is great) with a different manager we could have utilised that World Class Midfield and World Class Center halves to really compete at the tournament and not just ride the wave of euphoria with the usual win lose or draw we'll have a great time attitude
I sometimes wonder if our much praised devil may care party reputation is actually counter-productive at times with Italia90 a case in point
I accept that the team cannot be beyond criticism but I don'taccept we had a "world class midfield" or "world class centre halves". We're inclined to hype up our own players. Some very good players, perhaps one world class, but also some terrible weakenesses in certain positions.
Anyway, to repeat my point, what got to me was there was NEVER anyone on the panel to put a contrary view. Giles/Dunphy sang off the same hymm sheets for years until Saipan and ONLY then did we see a real debate in the panel. And of course when Dunphy was contradicted by Giles, he totally turned on him and called him many pejorative names. We should have had that debate from 1988-2002. Instead we had Giles and Dunphy and O'H kicking off with the same negative stuff, week in, week out. It did my head in. It still does.
I think it does if you were part of a campaign on national television against the manager week in, week out, and then appeared on TV with a stupid hat and said "Isn't this wonderful lads?" and ignored all the negative stuff you had said and promoted rather than sticking to your guns and then just return to the negativity the minute things go wrong again.
Last edited by OwlsFan; 27/02/2008 at 6:59 AM.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
having played the game doesn't make you a good analyst..two words...Jamie rednapp........also Bill is the host not an analyst..he just throws the fishing line out to see what he can reel in and he is deffo the best at that
i do like Dempsey but you are comparing chalk with cheese......
the time after a champions league game when george Hamilton said "we hand you back to bill and the studio Panel " and bill said (paraphrasing here) no wonder as that was total crap....that was pure gold and was what everyone at home was thinking
Bring back the plank
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