{"id":252,"date":"2007-04-24T19:13:25","date_gmt":"2007-04-24T19:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/wordp\/?p=252"},"modified":"2007-04-24T19:13:25","modified_gmt":"2007-04-24T19:13:25","slug":"rtes-football-pundits-are-muppets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/?p=252","title":{"rendered":"RTE’s football pundits are muppets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching the build-up to the Man Utd v Milan game. I’m a keen Man Utd. supporter for many years and make no apologies for it. Having supported the team during the not so glorious days (Neil Webb anyone?) I can’t be classed a glory hunter. I also think Chelski’s millions are good for the game as it’s improved the overall standard of football in the premiership no end with Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelski playing some fabulous stuff over the past 2 years.
\nHowever it’s galling to watch RTE’s coverage of this game. It matters not a whit what these guys see as they always arrive at the same ludicrous conclusions. The game against Roma was a fluke. “Carrick is mediocre”. DID THEY WATCH THE SAME GAME I DID? I’ve never been a fan of Fletcher but he’s not as bad as claimed. Now Dunphy states that Ronaldo is just “hype” and “not a great player”. This opinion was so at odds with the clips we were shown that it was laughable. Equally Dunphy’s been praising Rooney even when Ronaldo’s performance’s have eclipsed his as he’s the “more honest player”. I know football punditry consists of stringing one cliche after another without dribbling on your shirt but for a supposedly intelligent journalist it’s a bit lame…<\/em>.
\nThe problem is that Dunphy is wrong and deep down he knows it. However, he’s built a career on outspoken arrogance so he justifies his points my saying them louder and with greater vehemence.
\nCombine that with a pundit who’s actually employed by Manchester United’s opponents (Liam Brady) and it’s easy to see why no Utd supporter could reasonably watch this most partisan of football punditry. Yet, part of my TV license fee pays for this “entertainment”<\/em>.
\nIt’s a shame that a decent man like Johnny Giles has to share a bench with these muppets. He frequently looks like he’s in pain as he winces during Eamonn’s rants and Liam’s Gooner rhetoric. He deserves a break and some new co-workers. Perhaps the NOTW could spare one of the hundred or so models (“lovely girls” in Fr. Ted speak) that are so vital in explaining complex national issues like the health service or why drink driving is bad. They’d arguably be more sensible than Dunphy.
\nI wonder if An Taoiseach writes them another letter of complaint they’ll stop their “alarmist” and “irresponsible” punditry \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching the build-up to the Man Utd v Milan game. I’m a keen Man Utd. supporter for many years and make no apologies for it. Having supported the team during the not so glorious days (Neil Webb anyone?) I can’t be classed a glory hunter. I also think Chelski’s millions are good for the game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaisan.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}