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EAMON DUNPHY WANTS to talk about football.
A lot.
And his pre- and post-game slots on RTÉ television just aren’t sating his appetite.
“It’s very hard in soccer to find good, intelligent analysis,” he told TheJournal.ie in a recent interview.
“So there isn’t anything that I listen to where I feel comfortable saying ‘this is an intelligent, interesting perspective’.
A lot of it is very tabloidy. The English television channels, to be fair, don’t really make an effort. When you look at the people they have, they’re on because they were great players. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to be a good analyst.
“So, there isn’t much that I watch. Sometimes I turn the sound down.”
Taking the matter into his own hands, Dunphy has decided to launch his own show – in the form of a football podcast.
The programme will launch on 21 November with a live audience at Trinity College. The pundit has gathered the old gang together and on stage with him will be John Giles, Liam Brady and Didi Hamann.
He plans for other people to get on board over the coming months, including experts in other sports including horse racing and GAA.
“I hope it will be an intelligent, funny, irreverent, candid look at sport. That will be the aim,” he says.
The show will go online twice a week – on Mondays and Fridays – and will be up to one hour long.
“I’m very excited about it because I love radio… the happiest time I’ve ever spent as a journalist was doing The Last Word on TodayFM,” Dunphy admits.
“I loved it. It’s a great medium and this is a great chance to talk at more length… When you’re on television doing the Champions League, you’re sort of constrained with time. If you have someone like Didi, or Liam, or John, you want to hear what they’ve to say, you want to hear the discussion run its course rather than squeezing everything in.”
He believes he’s hitting the market at the right time as the Premier League is particularly exciting at the moment – even though he cites the recent Liverpool Manchester United Monday night dud which petered out at Anfield after days of hype (in front of billions of viewers worldwide).
“I was looking forward to it all day, and my son is a Liverpool supporter, all weekend we were talking about it,” he says.
It brings popular culture and a richness into people’s lives and because it means so much to people, it deserves to be critiqued seriously and talked about intelligently and not going for soundbites.
On the road with Dunphy and pals
As well as the podcast, Dunphy and co. are hitting the road for a series of live shows with Aprés Match’s Barry Murphy.
The three-hour, no-holds barred event – kicking off in Vicar Street on 5 December – will also include Hamann, Giles and Brady in what is being billed as an ‘intimate evening with the Premiership A-Team’.
They promise to answer “all questions” and be as passionate as always.
“There’s also a bar,” adds Dunphy, with a chuckle.
Check out TheJournal.ie and The42.ie for more with our interview with Dunphy and Didi Hamann.
Camera and editing: Nicky Ryan
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“It’s not racist Bill. It’s ethnic criticism”
Old man yells at cloud
@Sean Flanagan: Don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at a Journal comment, and in work of all places!
*bows
If you’re into emotionally unstable ranting about how it used to be , well then , this is your podcast baby
Oh God help us
RTE give way to much time to GAA and Soccer and not enough to other sports
Dunphy and intelligent in the same sentence… jesus!
This man helped rid us of the PDs, have some respect
I thought the headline description read “irrelevant” at first….
@Conor Mc Lysaght: Same , says it all though.
This man has nothing of an opinion left but extremes, dodnt think he’s done a proper bit of analysis in his life. Saving grace for the thing is hamann is there who is very insightful
Eamonn Dinphy is a great and passionate sports pundit. Great writer . I loved his first ever book Its only a game about life at Millwall F.C
@Eamonn Byrne: ah heyor, theyre great lads ya hardly wish them impotence? Lol :)
Says the biggest “tabloidy” football writer and pundit out there! Bit of self awareness there eamo, the Guardian football podcast you will never be…he’s basically doing a live show of rte per match coverage who wants to listen to that tripe?
@Jimmy Boots:
I do.
Ronaldo is a cheat, he goes missing in big games, he is not world class. Which expert expressed these sentiments?
Don’t worry I’m sure he has contradicted himself on all fronts numerous times. I remember Liverpool playing Inter in the CL years ago and Dunphy saying Liverpool hadn’t a chance, Inter were all conquering. Liverpool won and at full time we were treated to “Italian football is in decline”
@Gary Stewart: Very true Gary.
And his latest that “messi is in decline” who then went on to score a hatrick.
He also said during the Europeans that DeBreuyne is not a player
Irrevenant or irrelevant? He would need to have great guests and not just the old RTÉ panel to make this work, hopefully he can.
Sorry Dunphy you missed the boat it’s called Second Captains
This news will give Second Captains the impotence to raise its game.
However, it could also raise some eyelids at RTE.
Still, with Eamon on board and its strong panel of other experienced football pundits, the innovative event has a 65 : 40 probability of success, IMHO, and that’s just a little less than half, I think.
Nobody at second captains or RTE will be raising anything due to ‘impotence’.
Your maths is a little off…..
73% of statistics are inaccurate so I’d say it’s closer to 70:40
@ Rory J, the essence of impotence is that it raises nothing.
‘Interesting and intelligent’.. so he won’t be presenting it himself then..
Eamonn watches Premiership analysis with the sound turned down, which by happy coincidence, is the best way to listen to his podcast.
What about League of Ireland ?
There’s a lot of hate and bitterness toward Dunphy on this site over the past 12 months – it must be fashionable.
This will be a great show!
Soccer is overhyped
You one of the less skilled who controls the object ball with two hands?
Didi hamann has really become one of the lads
Friday is the Journals new satire day.
Amazing. Can’t wait for this and defo going to the live show. Dunphy is class
He’s great craic though in fairness!!
“Intelligent, interesting, irreverent”, these are not the first words that come to mind when I look to describe Eamon Dunphy to my friends in the UK.
Bit early for April Fools lads.
The man could never play soccer or read a game he is a usless has been goodbye dunphy
The gaurdian football weekly the times the game second captains and if I have enough time men in blazers are all top class pods , no thanks dunphey you have missed the boat , also the football ramble is good for a laugh
Pssssst, anybody wanna earn some extra dosh ?
Get Duncey’s predictions, go to bookies and bet on the opposite outcome.
Quids in, nice.
European football show on bt on sunday & guardian podcasts with james richardson & guests are the only ones worth listening to.
Humpty Dunphy sat on a wall…
Best dunphy quote ever “I’ll tell ya who wrote it rod little he’s the guy who left his wife for a young one”
* @ Rory j
It’ll be interesting alright. Intelligent though? Not likely.
I do the same with George Hamilton turn the sound down
Looking forward to that although IMO a pod should really be 45 minutes max.An hour just that bit too much.
@Michael cunnane: Listen for 45 minutes then.
“Ronaldo is a disgrace to the game. His petulance, temperament, throwing himself on the ground. It was a disgrace to professional football. This fella Ronaldo is a cod.”
Quote from Dunphy on Ronaldo about 10 years ago
Great news! Dunphy is an excellent radio broadcaster. He’s funny, a former pro and a fearless commentator. Second Captain;s have him on their podcast for a reason. He may not always get it right but at least you’re getting what he actually believes at any given time.
Intelligent analysis???? From Dunphy??? Really???
It’ll be really interesting to see his listening figures, surely ? ppl have seen past this walking contradiction a long time ago.!!
To many late nights in Lillie’s vip bar talking bull s@@t
Dunphy..intelligent and interesting? That’s a first!!!!
if you are going to promote the pod best to tell us we’re it can be downloaded or did I miss it?
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