Mixed Bag with Bob McKenzie

Deniese chats to former Radio Broadcaster Bob McKenzie. World Cup, Wicklow's Tailteann Cup win, books and memories are amongst the things they talk about. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Mixbag is currently sponsored by Refined Barbershop Main Street Crawford. You can find Refined Barbershop on Instagram and the big thank you to I am delighted to be joined on the pod by a good pal of mine, Bob Mackenzie. Bob, you have an English twang, an English accent, but you're very much an Irishman at heart.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I'm very much an Irishman full stop, Denise. Um I've been living over here for 40 years, but of course I was I was reared in England as Irish in the 70s, so you can imagine now that wasn't exactly the best of ways to be read. Um, because obviously in the 70s there was a big mistrust of the Irish uh by the English. So, you know, that that has coloured my feelings, I suppose, towards the English in a way, Denise.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Yeah, and the thing about it is you look at so many people that were over there at the time. I kind of liken you in some ways with your accent and that and your voice to um the great late Shane McGowan.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Uh Shane, of course, was was just incredible as a as a musician. I mean, he he would have been like myself, you know, next generation Irish transplanted i in England, but very, very strong Irish roots. Um, with him, you know, it was it was down the country. With me, uh, all my lot are all from Dunleary um in County Dublin. So I used to spend my summers in Dunleary. Um, I used to spend six to eight weeks in Dunneary every summer, and then I might actually also come over for Easter, and maybe even a couple of times I I came over uh for a couple of weeks just before Christmas as well. So, you know, I always had very, very strong roots here. Um I mean I'm sixty-one years old now, and I probably spend a total of probably fifty out of those sixty-one years when you add up all the time in Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

When you say about your holidays, and that reminds me of like my mum's cousins that were over in Scotland and in England. But also my own first cousins, my uncle and his wife, they moved to London when they were quite young, so a family over there. But their children have the Irish passports, and they're very much Irish as well, because they spent their summers and now they have children, and their children now are coming over to Ireland. So it's lovely to have that. Dunneery, I went to college in Dunnery, so I know it well. But you're very much made a home for yourself. I know you've been in different places as well, but Bray seems to be the home for you.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Well, I've I've lived in Bray for most of the forty years that I've been here. Um I had a brief sojourn in Balbriggan, as you know, um a few years ago, which I absolutely loved. I love Balbriggan as a town. But it's an interesting thing, Denise, because I was born in Folkestone, down on the southeast coast of England. I grew up in a little place called Deal, which is another seaside town. Um I moved to Bray, um, and of course, Balbrighan is also a seaside town, so I've always lived by the sea um and could never be away from it, to be fair.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

You never really decided, oh yeah, I must go somewhere by the sea. It was just that something there pulled you there.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Well, it was I I moved from the Garden of England to the Garden of Ireland, which I always thought was quite sweet. Um I my original plan was, I mean, I was intending to move over here in the early 80s because I was intending to go to to do a degree in Trinity College, and at the time you didn't have all the the bells and whistles that you have now. It's fairly easy. If you want to study in another country, you can do it with the Erasmus, etc. But at the time you couldn't do it, and basically that basically buggered up my plans. So I didn't end up going to college in Trinity. Um, I was going to stay with relatives in Dublin area, had it all organized, but we just couldn't get it sorted. So I never got to do my my college in Dublin, um, and I ended up going to uh UKC in Canterbury. Um so that was where I I did my education.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Radio, that's how I know you. You've got that voice. I remember many the time talking to you, working with you, um, getting something sent down the wires by you.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Yeah, I mean, of course, for 30 years um I worked on the radio, starting out with my local station out here, which was then called BLB. That's how long it is uh since I started on the radio. And I mean, then of course it became Horizon, then it became East Coast, and now of course it's East Coast Radio. Um, so you know, I I worked for them under a couple of different names, you know. Um, but of course, then uh I got the big gig um with the legendary FMY4 in Dublin, and and that was when you know things started to open out for me because I I got to travel, I I was very close, of course, as you know, um, to that generation of Irish footballers, and of course, uh Mick McCarthy, uh Paul McGrath, all those guys, you know, lifelong friends, Kevin Kilban, um another one, Alan Kelly, you know, like I knew so many of them, Steve Staunton, and when he was manager, I was the uh I was the official podcaster for the FAI, and I can tell you now that was one of the hardest jobs I ever did, I'm not gonna lie to you.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

I can just imagine it. One memory of me, like I've lots of memories of you, but was out in a press conference in Port Marnock, and I don't know what ever was happening. You were doing stuff and you had to go on the ground and you look like something like E.I. Joe or something, and um Brian Kerr was manager at the time, and he was looking over, it was like you're going into combat or something, and it was just so funny. I I'll never forget Kerr's Kerr's face, it's you you crawling on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Yeah, because Brian and Brian, of course, I mean, you know Brian very, very well, Denise. I mean, Brian is one of the nicest guys in football full stop. I absolutely adore Brian Kerr. Loved him when he was St. Pat's manager, um, and he and I used to have a drink after the games before he became Irish manager. And in interestingly enough, actually, when he became Irish manager, he wouldn't start the press conference until I was ready to ask the first question. So that's how close I was to Brian. And of course, I used to ask him the most bizarre questions, um, and he used to love that about me that I was so left field with some of my questions. I mean, there was the the the time we were playing Switzerland in a qualifier, and uh Yuri Geller had offered to fly in a helicopter over Lansdown Road to bring us good vibes, um, and of course, uh Yuri was a a bit of a lunatic. Um, and I was at the press conference, and nobody would ask him about this story about Yuri Geller. So in the end, I said to him, you know, do you think that Yuri Geller might be able, you know, to help us bend a ball round a Swiss wall? And Brian Kurt's answer was absolutely classic. He said, How is he gonna do that, Bob? With a steward, you know what I mean? So, yeah, you know Brian, he was just so quick. Um, and then I interviewed Yuri Geller in the tunnel afterwards, and it was one of the most bizarre interviews I think I've ever done. Um it was very, very odd, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

We'll go into your whole memories and your whole journey in a few minutes, but at this moment in time we have the World Cup. It's you know, the English players, a lot of them are likable. It's just the way the media and some of their supporters go on. But I have to say, in all the things I've seen after the the fallout of the defeat the other night, Jason Cundy and Jamie O'Hara. I won't tell you what I think of the two guys, I'm too much of a lady, but their meltdown and talk sport has got to be the funniest ever. Did you see it?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

I did indeed, and I mean Ara's an idiot anyway, yeah. And Candy's not much better. I mean, neither of them ever, ever set anything alight apart from their backslides when they were sticking fireworks at them, to be honest. Um, because they're neither of them were great players. They've made they've made a great living out of doing radio. I mean, I mean, sports radio is huge in the UK. We, of course, don't really have that here. Um, I always I I think I've said this to you before, that I always felt that there was a market within Ireland for what I would call a 48-hour radio station that would run complete sport from seven o'clock on a Friday until seven o'clock on a Sunday night. Um, and I think that that would have worked out really, really well over here because of course we are sports mats, but of course nobody, you know, had the I suppose the the out-of-the-box thinking uh to to do that, you know. I mean, I even pitched it to, you know, East Coast Radio about the fact that, you know, give me the weekend for sports and I will fill it, but they didn't go for it. So, you know, this is this is the way that it goes. But I mean, you you're right about the fact that, you know, every time that England go into a competition, immediately, you know, those crosses of St. George around football's coming home. It's not coming home, lad, and it's not going to come home in my lifetime, I don't think. I mean, I will, in fairness, I will say that England got two rounds further than I thought they would. I thought Mexico would beat them, and I thought the Norwegians would beat them. So I do give credit to England, but they did get bits and pieces of luck here and there, to be fair to them, that got them to that next phase. But, you know, they they should be celebrating the fact that they have got to the last floor of a World Cup where most experts would have said that they wouldn't have gotten in the masses roar of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

So, you know, and also as well as that, the the they're immediately blaming Tougal over his decisions.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Now, for me, I I wouldn't be so much blaming him for his decisions on the night in terms of what those decisions were, but I would say that there were certain people that he left out of the squad that would have helped in this particular instance. And one thing that really did upset me was the fact that Kobe Mainu, who of course plays for my club, Manchester United, didn't get a single minute over seven games. Now, your 1-0 up, your best bet there is to bring on somebody like Kobe Mainu, who can just get that midfield well organised, keep hold of the ball, also bring on Marcus Rashford or Bakayo Saka to keep going at the Argentinians. Instead, he decided to take off Anthony Gordon, who I think is a dreadful player.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

I don't know how Barteloga turned down.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Yeah, well, well, I don't know how Barcelona turned down a bargain deal for Marcus Rashford, right? They were getting him for a quarter of the price that he's probably worth 25 million, right? And they turned that down in favour of spending nearly 80 million on this guy, and I just don't get it at all, Denise.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I just don't get it. It's a little bit like uh Trent, um, you know, th there was the whole big hollow baloo over that with um Real Madrid. Obviously, now I saw Graeme Soonis, I thought Graeme Soonas was absolutely brilliant. He was talking about Declan Rice, and it was actually Simon Jordan he was talking to, and he said about these players are limited. And I think the English don't like to be told that. But it's true, the players that they think are world-class players, a lot of them are limited players. In their heads, they're world class, but to the outside people they're not.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Well, I mean, look at Jordan Pickford, an exact case in point. Um I mean, how Jordan Pickford is still the English number one goalkeeper, I don't know. Every time you watch Jordan Pickford, you just have a feeling that he's ten seconds away from making a complete hell run. And yet he's he's now broken Peter Shilton's record for the most uh caps at uh at World Cups, which I find absolutely astonishing. But you see, in that England side, are there actually any truly world-class players? I know people will hold up Jude Bellingham. Yeah. I mean, Jude Bellingham's had a very interesting route to where he is now because he chose to take a really interesting route because he was a he was a boy at Birmingham City. He was supposed to go to Manchester United when he was 17, but Dortmund Gazumped United and he went to Dortmund, and then of course, from Dortmund, then he's then gone on to Real Madrid now. Um so he he took a very interesting path, and you'll notice that a lot of the young English players and players in their early 20s are now starting to look at those sort of moves where they want to play in Germany, they want to play in Spain, they want to play in Italy, they want to play in Portugal, they want to play in France. So this is this is good because England uh has always been uh one of those places where you know the players think that the Premier League is the B ornamental.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yes, it is it is the biggest league in the world in terms of its pull, its money.

unknown 12:07

Is it the best league in the world to watch? Personally, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

I think the championship is it is is actually the best league in Europe.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

I think the championship there's always so much jeopardy. Um, and I absolutely love watching the championship because it's just so entertaining. Whereas the EPL, there's a lot of money in it, and I think that's that's why you're getting all these players coming over. And I mean, it it's it's interesting that, you know, the the traditionally big clubs, your Manchester United and your Liverpool, your Arsenal, and now, of course, Manchester City because they're just throwing so much money at it. It's interesting that, you know, those are the clubs that are dominating now. So you've actually got a massive gap now between the top clubs and the rest. And and that's that doesn't make it a competitive league. What you want is you want a league where there's not an awful lot of difference between the top six and the bottom six, and you will always get that in the championship. Three wins in the championship will get you out of the bottom six into the top six most most seasons. Do you know what I mean? Because of the fact that it's so compressed and it's also it's just so competitive between every single team.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

I mean, you look at the Premier League virtually every year, bar last year, those that come up go straight back down.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

It's very unusual that they stay up, you know. Now, last year both Leeds and Sunderland stayed up, Burnley came up, went straight back down again. Even though the previous season in the championship, alongside the the Mighty Leeds United, they scored a hundred points in the league. And and that's a real marker because you don't see too many teams scoring a hundred points in any of the leagues. I mean, the first to do it, the first to do it was York City, would you believe, under Dennis Smith, when they won the old Division IV. So, you know, people going about, you know, Cities are a hundred points and all this, Liverpool, whatever. York City were the first to do it, at least.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah, but the standard has just gone down, as you said. The championship, and you would have watched it over the years with your good pal Mark Brophy, and you mentioned Leeds United, and it's so funny because you are a Man United fan whose big rivals would be Obviously City, Liverpool, and Leeds United. But you're a Man United fan who has a soft spot for Leeds United.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Well, Leeds have been so generous to us over the years with players, of course. I mean, you know, Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, and of course, the biggest giveaway of all Eric Camden are. Um, we've also signed lads like Alan Smith as well from Leeds. Um, so Dan Dan James, of course, went from Manchester United to Leeds as well. So the two clubs have always had this, although there's been this rivalry, they've never been afraid to do business with each other, and a lot of guys have gone between the the two clubs. I mean, obviously, because you know, my best friend is a big Leeds fan, I make allowances for it. But I mean, I've never been one of those who who despises you know uh other other teams, if you know what I mean. Now, I'm not too fond of of Liverpool and City are just the noisy neighbours because of the fact that, you know, the Qataris went in there, they've invested billions in the club. And in the time you think you think you've got to look at it from the financial point of view, Denise. And if you look at the two Manchester clubs, it's an interesting thing that nobody talks about. Over the last few years, the Qataris have invested two billion in Manchester City in terms of you know the club itself and all that surrounds the stadium. They've set up this beautiful park all around uh the stadium. During the time that they've invested two billion, the Glazers have stolen two billion from Manchester United. So the fact that Manchester United are still even in the Premier League is astonishing when you look at it from those sort of numbers. And that's something that's not really talked about. And I mean, Ineos who have gone in there and taken the shareholding that they're looking after the footballing end of it, they're another bunch of crooks, you know? I mean, Braille sort who came in with um with Ratcliffe, he ran uh sky cycling for years there, Ineos Grenadiers, and you know, let's be honest, they didn't win those Tour de Frances by being fair and not cheating. So these people are not the sort of people that you want in your football club, but unfortunately, those are the people that Manchester United have in that football club.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

That's what's happening more and more, though, Bob. You're not having people who actually have this vested interest in the football club or in football in general. You have guys who think are gonna make money out of it, it's gonna be a money-making scheme. And an awful lot of clubs now are tourist clubs. Like they that's what they call the Premier League, is a tourist. Because I've been to games at the Emirates, and that friend of mine, good friend, Lord American Gene Crotty, was an Arsenal fan, but he was a Leagues fan as well. And half and half scarves, like half Liverpool, half Arsenal, half United, half um Arsenal. Like you don't do those things, but you'll see so many tourists there, and it's known as a tourist league.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah, it is. I mean I mean, I don't buy this, you know, this marketing strategy. That the Premier League is is the best in the world, uh, as as I've already stated. I mean, of the of the elite leagues, it is the one that gets the most money, it's the one that gets the most TV money, it's the one that's the most watched. I mean, you know yourself that over the years when uh the Premier League first started and they were trying to get it going and trying to sell it, that at that time probably the best league anywhere in the world was probably Serie R in Italy, which for a long time was the dominant league in European competition as well. And then, of course, it then moved to the Spanish. Now it's it's very much it's very much the Premier League. I mean, look at the the results in European competitions this year. Um, you know, I mean, two of the three trophies won by English clubs, you know, it's it it's it's it's now starting to to dominate in Europe as well, which was something that wasn't always the case, Denise.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

We'll go back to the World Cup. Ken Cunningham's take was hilarious on Messi because that old saying former temporary class is permanent, kind of like Messi versus Jamal and all these things are coming out. But we have um an Argentina-Spain final. Would you have seen that at the start? A lot of people thought, you know, as the journey went on that France, but then I felt I said to my dad the other night, they're a very good side, but they haven't been tested until that Spanish game.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Yeah, I I mean I I have a couple of friends, and they were absolutely cocka hooped yesterday because they'd they'd done an Argentina-Spain final that was 16-1, by the way, before the uh before the tournaments obviously. It was decent odds. Another guy that I know did Argentina and then did a separate bet for Spain, so he can't lose either. Um, so you know, it's it's the final I think that that the tournament deserves. Um think that the conspiracy theories um around the health that Argentina have had um from officials and FIFA um is absolutely ridiculous. But I will say this, that I do think that the draw at the start of the tournament was very much rigged in their favour. I mean, their their group was a joke.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Um their the those that they had to play was a bit of a joke. I mean, for me, the game of the tournament by a country mile, England will say it was them in Mexico, nowhere near the beauty and the brilliance and just uh the superbness of Argentina against Cape Verde, which I thought was by far the game of the tournament. I mean, Cape Verde drew with both of the finalists, right?

unknown 19:33

Over 90 minutes. Just let that sink in.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

The smallest team in the competition with the story of the competition. Of course, as Irish people, we were supporting them because of Nico Lopez, right? But also, don't forget their goalkeeper Vizinho, right? If when they do the team of the tournament, Vizinho is not the goalkeeper of the tournament, it's an absolute disgrace to these.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

It'd be interesting to see who will be picking it. I think a lot of people want Spain, well, obviously the feel that Spain are a fantastic team, but it's for the orange man over there to be there when um Spain lifts the World Cup because we know how much uh he dislikes uh the Spanish and the Spanish dislike him.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Well, of course, you know Trump dislikes everybody, let's be fair. Um, well, except Janny Infantina, he loves Janny, obviously. Um yeah, exactly, they're both gobshades. Um let's let's both be let's just let's call it Spain a Spanish at least. Um I mean the the the thing about it is as well that you know we I think that this final could be one of the great defining finals, or it could be one of the biggest boar fests we've ever seen.

unknown 20:44

It's one of those, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

About Spain is that this is not a Spain of all the talents that we've seen before. Last time we won the World Cup in in uh when they won in 2014, they were a team of all the talents that had Javi, they had Iniesta, they were just a beautiful side to watch. Whereas this Spanish side are very much more, excuse me for using a political term, but they are proletarian in terms of they are a bunch of lads who work really, really hard to get the result. They're brilliant defensively, they've conceded one goal in the entire tournament, which was in the quarterfile in the last 16, I think, or the quarterfinal against no last 16 against Portugal. That's the only goal they conceded. Um, and I mean, let's be fair, they were a little bit lucky to get past Portugal, I thought, even though this Portuguese side performed very, very poorly in the tournament. They they were actually my biggest disappointment, I think, because I said before the tournament I thought that Portugal would be there or thereabouts, and even Bruno Fernandez, who was absolutely incredible last year, did one assist for Ronaldo in one of the games, and that was it, nothing else. And and this Portuguese side were not great. This Spanish side are one of the Sides who they work for each other, and so are the Argentinians, but they're not working for each other, they're working for Leonel Messi, who, interestingly enough, people are going on about you know, he's the GOAT, he's the greatest of all time. How can he be the greatest when he's only the second greatest Argentinian player of all time? I've got to obviously be the greatest.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I was a six-year-old nephew, and obviously they're at that stage, Ronaldo or Messi or all that, and yeah, Messi and Yamal and Bappe and all that. But if you say to Liam, who's six, who's the ghost? Diego Maradona. Thank you, child.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Yeah, well, well, he's he's almost right because obviously the goat was George Best. Oh, wow. George Best was the ghost, you know. Um, in terms of I mean, let's put it this way, I've been watching football all my life, and I'm in my sixties now, and for me, the best player that I have ever seen, and I mean I've seen all the great players live, as you can imagine, Denise. I've seen Maradona live, I've seen them all live. And for me, the best I ever saw by a country mile is George Best, and the best team I've ever seen was the Brazil side of 1970, and I've never seen any side that could touch that in terms of the sum of its parts and also the individuals in that team. So, you know, it it it it is, I suppose, uh it depends on the era, but for me, Messi is the greatest of his era alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. I think that you cannot separate the two of them. Messi is better in certain ways, but Ronaldo is the one who has the international goal scoring record, he has the club goal scoring record, he has played in five different countries and won leagues in five different countries, whereas Messi decided to stay with Barcelona for the majority of his career, did a couple of really poor years, I thought, in Paris Saint-Germain, and then bugged off to his mate Beckham to go and play in the MLS with him to Miami. And Beckham, of course, set up the team in Miami because he he he he was playing the long game. He always knew that he would get Messi to play for his team if he put it in the right place, and he knew Messi lived in in Florida or his family lived in Florida, and that was the best place for him to do. So good long-term thinking from David Beckham, who's a guy I've got a lot of time for as an individual. I think he's one of the good guys. Um, but Messi, I thought, was absolutely astonishing after England scored the goal the other night. He was absolutely astonishing in terms of the way that he he dragged them back into it. But the the the big difference, I think, in that game was when uh Scalone decided to bring on uh DePaul, um, and I thought he was brilliant because he he just organised that midfield so that they could keep that press on England, and it gave England no out whatsoever. I mean, Thomas Touchel uh had an absolute mare the other night in terms of you know the decisions that he made tactically, and he would be blamed for that. But does that make him a bad coach? I don't think it does make him a bad coach. He made a judgment call, it was the wrong judgment call. And to be fair to Touchal, he's owning it. He said, you know, this is my fault, you know, I made the wrong tactical decisions. Now, for me, I think that that England very much overachieved by getting to that last four. For me, England are a last 16, last eighteen, not a semi-final or a final team. Now, you will remember Gareth Southgate.

unknown 25:29

Gareth Southgate changed the perception of England and made them a top six team in world football.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

And Gareth got to semi-finals, he got to a European final, and he made England competitive after a long time when they were nowhere near it. Now, people are very, very critical of Gareth, and they take the piss out of him, but the job that he did with England you've got to admire it. And the the uh TV series they did recently, I don't know whether or not you saw it, called Dear England, was absolutely brilliant. Did you see it?

SPEAKER_00 26:00

No, I didn't. Do you know that he lives outside Harrogate?

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Yes, yeah, he does, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, Harragus' lovely. I love Harrogate.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Yeah, that's where that's where Harrogate is.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

And you take me down a rabbit hole involving David Batty. We're not going there. Um when he's he's the vice he's the vice president of Harrogate.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

My cousin now, they um would go to Harrogate Town. Um obviously they're taking an interest now in St. Pat's because Ryan is over here, but yeah, they'll be very much uh Harroget Town supporters.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, yeah. But you know, the the they did this TV thing and Joseph Fiennes played Gareth Southgate and played him brilliantly, and it was about his time as England coach, and it was it was very interesting seeing how he got the psychologists in with the players and how the players were resistant to that. But actually, once they thought about it and got used to the fact, it did actually benefit them in terms of their tournament performances.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Bob, right, the World Cup is great, but you know me, I am a BGA fan, and yes, we have the All Ireland curling final coming up, we have the football final coming up, but the big story, and you're delighted with it all as well, is most say Wicklow, we say Wickler, the Colton Cup, that comeback. I don't think we'll have a second half as good as we saw that day in Crow Park.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Yeah, it was one for the ages, wasn't it? I mean, it it's not often that I cry at sport, um, but I'm not gonna lie, I shed a few tears last Saturday. Um I I had hoped to go in. I couldn't go in because I didn't have cover in in the shop, so um I I got home and I I actually came, I got home just in time for for the second half there. Um and I have to say, I've never seen a comeback like it, you know. I mean, we we in Wicklow, we are unique because we are the only one of the 32 counties that has never been in any final whatsoever, the elite level. We've never been in a Leinster final, we've never been in an All Island final in either football or Burling. Ourselves and Fermanagh were there, of course, but of course Fermanag won Ulster a few years ago. Um, so you know, Wicklow are now on their own. And I mean, we've had, I mean, we have Mick O'Dwyer back in the team, and that was we we won the Tommy Murphy uh under Mick O'Dwyer, um, which was the only thing that we'd won previously.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Obviously, we won a couple of division fours, yeah, maybe division three, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 28:17

But but we've never won like a like a knockout trophy bar the Tommy Murphy and now the the the the tall team. So, you know, it it's a big thing for us because obviously we we're we're not I mean our club sides have won All Irelands all over the shop. Bolting glass won an All Islands. Um I think uh Bray Emmett's uh did very well in All Islands as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

So we've always had really good club teams. Yeah, you can never do it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

I mean, like you know yourself, that boughting glass side that won nine in a row in Wicklow were an incredibly good side, and they competed really, really well in in Leinster as well and in the All Island club. So we've always had that with the club end of things, but it's never sort of gelled together for the county. But of course, the fact that you have a top, top player as the the the Bannister nail um in in in you know in in McConville. I mean, he is, I mean, he's been there, he's done it, he's one of them you know what I mean, and I love his attitude as well, you know. I mean, he he kept on the down low in the build-up, and then when he was spoken to afterwards, you know, he he was there like, you know, I wasn't surprised that we did it. I always thought we could do it. Okay, we made it difficult for ourselves, but we did it. And you know, having somebody of his caliber with you know a division four team, it can only mean good things for Wicklow in the future, I think.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Sure, look at um this year I would have said they were going to be promoted, and I think they lost. I know Longford came back and beat them um after coming back from a ten-point deficit, but um I said that Wicklow lost that game, and then you've seen it as the championship went on, they gave Dublin a game, and then look at how Dublin were last weekend. So it's absolutely fantastic to see. You mentioned books and like myself who love a good book, and I suppose next to working in a radio station, your ideal job would be a bookshop. Um myself and you also have a great love for Michael Connolly. So um that bookshop, I suppose you just it's a a dream job for you.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Oh, absolutely. I mean I've been doing I I run a uh a charity bookshop in Bray, which is the second hand bookshop, which raises money for the homeless. Um and I've been doing that for three years. But when they when they decided it was going to open, I saw the ad for us, and uh I went in for an interview and I told the two fellas who were going to be my boss, I just walked in and stunned them. And I walked in and I said to them, You cannot give this job to anybody else. And then I explained why over the next five minutes. Um, and then uh I left and half an hour later they rang me and said, You've got the gig. And my boss was actually talking to me there uh uh a couple of weeks ago, and he said to me, When you walked in and said that we thought you are an absolute lunatic, and then he said, Because you ordered things he had because because you know, because you know books, like I know the book business really, really well because even when I wasn't working in it, I was following it. And I don't know whether or not you know this, but I also run a very successful online book club called Book Punk. I'm part of it on Facebook, yeah, which which I I set up because I was thrown out of Ireland's biggest online book club, uh run by uh certain DJ with a ridiculous name who we will not mention.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Oh, that is ridiculous. I I love the forums and those clubs on social media, you can talk to people um not and you don't have a Nazi in control of it. You have someone like yourself who actually has an interest in it.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

The way the way I look at it, Denise, is that if you're going to have an online book club, it should be a forum for discussion. And that includes if you don't like a book. Now, other book clubs, we will mention no names, if you are critical of an author or of a book, they will take down your post.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Uh here.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

Now that for me is ridiculous because I mean book punk, the the site that I run is a forum for anybody to talk about any feelings that they have about any books. So if you don't like a book, say you don't like the book. Obviously, you know, give us a review and tell us why you don't like the book. But if you want to put up a thing and say, no, here's a picture of the book, it was rubbish, I've got no problem with that.

unknown 32:23

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Because different people have different opinions on books. I mean, at the moment, you know, I'm reading a lot of Irish authors this year. I've I've been reading like I I've been reading a lot of debuts, I've been reading my reading is very, very varied. I read seven or eight at the same time, which isn't for everybody. Um I mean, at the moment I'm reading Land by Maggie O'Farrell, I'm reading The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters, I'm reading John and John by Douglas Stewart, and then I have another couple of books that I have in the shop for when I'm in the shop to read. So I'm always, you know, reading three or four novels, maybe as many as seven or eight.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

That is bad. What's your favourite genre?

unknown 33:06

Probably probably thrillers.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

But I am finding that I'm starting to really enjoy um literary fiction, particularly by Irish authors, funnily enough. Um, I mean, we're in a golden age for Irish authors, I think it's fair to say. Look at all the Irish authors who are doing really well in the thriller genre. Um, I mean, I saw a a a ridiculous um statistic there the other day that nine out of ten uh bestsellers um in England, a woman gets murdered, which is quite an astonishing statistic. But p but crime has become such a big genre now. And I think that when you see things like you will have the occasional crossover. So, for instance, over the last few years, books that I would say have have been big crossovers from literary fiction would be Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsover, uh James by Perseverance, and of course The Juggernaut is Hamlet, which was a huge seller as a book, and then of course the movie would have put it through the strata strip. I mean, the movie's just absolutely incredible. Um, and the the movie just belongs to Jesse. There's no two ways about it. But if you if you saw the movie, you should read the book. I mean, I read the book a long time before the movie came out, and I think Hamlet is one of the best books of the last, you know, sort of like ten years or so. Um, I mean, I read a book there um a couple of weeks ago called The Ballad of Ronan McCoy um by Colin Milligan. Um and he he is uh a guy who played uh Merlin in the BBC TV series back in the day. Um and it's an Irish debut and it's about a guy and his best friend, and it's absolutely stunning. In fact, it's so stunning that I actually took an executive decision and made it the book of the month this month, because usually what I do is I I I pick a book, my other admin picks a book, and then we ask two members to pick a book, and then we do a poll, so the members then choose their book of the month rather than being told what to read. But this book was so good I had to to make it the book of the month.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

You mentioned Irish authors, and the first Irish author I would have read, you know, in in the Crime Thriller series was Paul Carson, and it was actually my stepgranddad, Ralph David, and he said to me, Read this, and it was scalpel, and I absolutely loved it. I think I was what in my 15s when I started getting into it, and then I went up to the Library of Grange and I said, I absolutely loved this book, and at the time Carson said that much, and I said anything similar. And she said to me, I've a guy called Michael Conley, and that was I have read every single one of his books. So I love James Patterson, Interly Child, um Harlan Corbin, um John Grisham. But for me, Conley of Patterson will be just um out there, but isn't it just amazing? And I love nothing better, Bob, than actually picking up a physical book. That's what I do on holidays.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

I'm the same. I mean, I don't do uh I don't do digital. Um I am I am very much, you know, a book hoarder, a bookworm. Um and I mean as regards Michael Conley, like yourself, I've read all 44 of them, um, including the new one there on which came out in four weeks ago. Um but I I love him because he's got different series, he's got different characters. Um I've not seen any of the TV adaptations. Have you not? Um no, I've not seen any of the Bosch's, I've not seen any of the Lincoln Lawyers. Oh Ballard, I've watched the colour. I have an idea in my head what Bosch looks like, and he doesn't look like Titan as well, but I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

I'm the same. I kind of have him as a bit like Rebus.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Yes, yes. Ian Rankin. Ian Rankin's.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Ian Rankin, look, yeah, I've read all of Ian Rankin's books as well, yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

And you see, now this is an interesting thing, actually. You've actually you've actually found an uh an interesting little one that I've always thought was very, very interesting. With Connolly and Bosch, and with Rankin and Rebus, they've been aging the detective in real time. So we're now getting to the stage where soon those characters are going to have to be killed off. Harry is getting there in the last few books.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Yeah, he was mentioned. Maddie was mentioned, uh his daughter kind of might take over, but Harry was mentioned just once in that book, Ironwood. We won't give away what what it was, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rena Rene is talking to him when when Silman comes over to the the unsold cases, yes, and he says, Who's that? And she's there like Harry Bosch. Oh, yeah, I've heard it, Harry. Yeah, brilliant. It was clever the way Connolly did that, I thought. He just sort of dropped him in.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Yes, that was.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

But but you know, these these sort of things, I mean, I I absolutely love Ian Rankin. I've always loved Ian Rankin. And and Rebus is one of my favourite detectives. I would love to see Michael and Ian get together and do uh a cross-Atlantic case that involves Rebus and Boss. That would be such a crossover. Um and I mean he's gonna they're gonna have to do it soon because the two everybody's getting a bit old for it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 38:04

It was like t I used to love watching tires and all that, and my mum laughs at me. Now, Mum is a very into into the true crime and that, but uh, I love all them kind of shows, and she always says to me that Denise will either commit the perfect murder or be able to solve it. And that's exactly it. Exactly. But it's just something that yes, I love sports and it gives me this release and everything, but you know, when you want to put your feet up after a busy week which I've had with ladies' matches and that, I love nothing better than picking up one of those books or um watching a show like that.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Well I'll tell you, I'll g I'll give you I'll give you a a new one that's just come out, only come out last week, maybe the week before. Uh Joe Spain's new one is very good. It's very unusual. It's about a woman and she disappears to people. So basically she gets them to she gets them into a new life. It's based on the Japanese um concept of people disappearing by choice. Um and she decides to do that in England. It's very, very good. So would you do that? What's happened is she has helped a murderer escape, or so she thinks, is very good.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Would you do that now, disappear now?

SPEAKER_02 39:06

You'd miss a disappeared years I disappeared years ago as far as radio's concerned, didn't I?

SPEAKER_00 39:11

Yeah, well, you still you're still doing just bits and pieces. All the things that you've done and all the sport, I suppose for yourself last weekend you'd love to have been there in Croker covering Wicklow, but all the events you've done, what stands out for you as a reporter?

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Um Ireland playing against Switzerland in the in 2022 in the autumn after we'd lost in Moscow, when the press conference had ended up in a punch up and McCarthy had to leave very, very rapidly, at the press conference after the the loss to the Swiss, telling Mick McCarthy that it may be time for him to go, and McCarthy replying that I'm not going anywhere because I'm going he actually told me that I had a neck like a jockey's bollocks for asking the question and said I'm going nowhere, and 24 hours later he was gone. Um and in terms of a match and a moment, it has to be Tehran. Um I was in Tehran uh commentating on the game and my full-time report, um, my line was uh my my last line was uh in because it was so far above sea level, we got to a World Cup finals, and my last line was in the words of the late great James Cagney, top of the world Mark, top of the world, Bob Mackenzie from the Azadi Stadium, Tehran.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Perfectly said. Is there any event that you ha would have loved to have covered?

SPEAKER_02 40:43

I'd have loved to have actually physically gone to and covered an Olympic Games, um, because I'm I I know that people would probably more associate me with soccer than than probably any other sport. But actually, my favourite two sports are probably tennis, because as I'm sure you guys have tennis before, my all-time sporting hero is John Patrick McEnroe. Um, and also I have a massive love of athletics, particularly distance running. Like I'm I'm the fella who will get up on a Sunday morning for the Great North run. I'll get up for the London Marathon.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Yeah, you won't run them, but you've got to go.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Oh god, no. I I have run a marathon. I have run a marathon. I did run a marathon once, um, and it would never be done again. Um but back in the day, that that was my jam when I was a kid. I was a really good distance runner. Um, so that that was my thing. My mum was the same. I was I was rubbish, I was rubbish at football, except in fibre size because the goals are so small, and I play in goal. Um here, famous myself. But I was a but I was a decent rugby player. Um I played county level at rugby. I I've actually played at Twicklem before a schoolboy international in 1980 between England and Wales. Um so I have played on Hallowed Turf, shall we say, um, and we got to the final. Um I was playing for Suffolk, and we got to the final, and I lost to my home county of Kent in the final. So um love my rugby, love my rugby, especially the Six Nations. You know, I just absolutely adore the Six Nations because it's always there's always so much to talk about. It's so competitive now as well, with the Italians coming on brilliantly, uh, England looking a bit ropey, the Scots are on the way back, the Welsh are just appallingly bad, and we're still top of the shot with the French. So, you know, it's one sport that I think that as Irish people we can always get behind because we know these days, and certainly over the last 15-20 years, it's one of those sports that Ireland are very, very good at is rugby union. So, you know, I've I've enjoy I enjoy most sports. There's not many sports that I wouldn't cover. I mean, I've not covered uh Formula One since I had to announce the death of Ayrton Centre on on air. Um I I just couldn't go anywhere near Formula One after that. Now I do keep an eye on it, obviously, because you can't exactly not keep an eye on it, but that that finished me with Formula One when Ayrton died. I mean, that weekend Roland Ratzenberger had died in the in the practice on the Friday. Uh Ayrton led the tribute to him before they did the race on the Sunday, and then he was dead um an hour later. You know, it was it was just absolutely tragic. And when you have things like that in sport, it does put all sorts of things into perspective, I think. Um, I mean, the the Christian Erickson thing was another one, you know. When when you see things like that happen in live sport, it really does, you know, put it all into perspective. But, you know, I could have maybe gone a bit further, done a bit more, um, maybe made the money so that I'd be living in a big house next door to Pat Kenny. Who knows? But you know, I did what I did, and you know, I'll stand over it because I have my moments and I did I did my job, I think it's it's fair to say. I mean, I was one of those who and I think, you know, successive Irish managers and successive, you know, international players would always say that I was never backward in coming forward in terms of if a question needed to be asked, yeah, I would ask it. Afraid to ask it. Whereas other journalists would say to me, Look, I want to ask this question, but I'm not brave enough. Will you ask it? And of course, I'd ask it. I'd have no problem asking it.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

But you never stirred the pot, though, Bob. You asked a question that needed to be asked. You weren't one of those people that liked kind of stirring the pot or getting at someone. You know, you just felt that this question needs to be asked. Supporters, people needed the answer.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

Well, yeah, that's that's our job, Daddy. That's our job as forced journalists. Is I'm I mean, I'm glad that I'm not a journalist now, because now the truth is fake news, and fake news is the truth. So i I I I wouldn't last very long in in I mean I mean, okay, like I ended up being blackballed from radio because I spoke my mind too much. But these days I wouldn't have even got in through the door to these. Do you know what I mean? Because I'm I'm quite I'm quite abrasive in terms of I believe very much in truth.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

And I believe that you've got to ask the questions and get the answers one way or the other. Whether you get a a clear answer or not, you've still got to answer the questions that need to be asked. And you know, a lot of journalists maybe don't do that so much. I mean, I've been very, very lucky in that I've done all sorts of different things journalistically. Um, I mean, for instance, for two World Cups, I produced a magazine for lifestyle sports, for Christ's sake. You know what I mean? And in the first one, I got all the top journalists in Ireland to contribute pieces, and then the one for 2002, I did the whole thing myself, and that was like a 48-page magazine, and I wrote every single word of that. And of course, the centrepiece of it was a piece on Roy Keane, and of course, he never made it to that World Cup. Um, the piece that I did was labelled Roy Keane the Shamrock Samurai, because if you remember in the build-up to it, he was posing in Samurai kit for an air con. Um, and I mean, you know that I have immense respect and love for Roy. Um, and for years people say to me, What's he like? What's he like? And I'd say, Oh, he's a really funny guy, and people say, No.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Watch him in the overlap, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, the number of times now that I've said something to Roy and he's come back with an absolute zinger, you know what I mean? Because because he's a funny guy, you know. But as a player, people were so afraid of him because he was so good, you know, because he just had that that all-consuming passion to win that made him certainly the greatest midfielder of his era, I think, in terms of what he could do, you know. Um, and I mean, obviously, he dragged us to that World Cup in 2002. We will probably never know what was said. I mean, I've I've tried trying to find out exactly what was said, and they will not talk about it. I've asked Nal Quinn, no, I will not talk about it, and Noah's a good lad, he'd tell you enton, to be fair to him. I've asked Alan Kelly about it, Alan won't tell me either. I mean, I spent two years trying to get Alan to do his autobiography, and he's he said I'm never gonna do it. And I mean, Alan was one of those who was there for two World Cups and never played a minute.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

You know what I mean? So he was he was around the squad for, you know, ten years, near enough. And I mean, he's he's a really good lad. And then of course, when he retired, he became the goalkeeping coach for Ivan for many years. So, you know, Alan Alan's one of those who was there at the at the big times. My one regret from my entire career was that I wasn't sent to the World Cup in 2002 after doing every single game, including Tehran, bar the win over the Dutch at Lanzan when Trigger scored the goal. I did every single match on that, and I had the personal relationship with McCarthy and the team that would have helped in the coverage, I think, of that. And I've always maintained that had I have been in Saipan, I would have got the interview with Roy, head of Stephen Watson. I would have got the interview with Roy because I knew him well enough that he would have talked to me, if you know what I mean. You know, that's probably the biggest regret. Because if I'd have been there in Saipan and I'd have got that interview, that would have made me. But you know, these these are the things, it's siding door moments, Denise. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Oh, hello, I've had them myself. Especially in especially in this business, Bob. It is, and and it's as you said, it has changed so much, and you now have um people coming in that are double jobbing as well. Um, I was having that conversation with a journalist friend of mine the other day in clonus at a ladies' match. That here we're myself and himself are freelancers and we're trying to pick up work everywhere, and then you have people who've got full-time jobs somewhere else coming in and taking our work or getting our work.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

Well, I mean, the thing is now, you see, it's it's a much more open market now for you guys because everything freelance now. Now, as you know, I gave Dan Pitcher his start in 2010 on a uh a radio station.

SPEAKER_00 48:42

And gave him his nickname.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Yeah, yeah, gave him his nickname Pitch Side, yeah. He still says that Jimmy McGee gave it to him, but there you go. The thing is that when I was in the business, we had exclusive contracts with radio stations. So I was exclusively contracted to FM 104, right? But they didn't mind me doing the odd game for RTE on a Friday night because it was break, and they also had no problem, as you know, when Jack and Mick were in charge, and to a lesser extent when Brian was in charge, the English were very interested in what was going on with the Irish football team. So I used to do an awful lot of work for IRN um over in London, who, you know, are ITN's radio arm, if you like. Um, and I did a lot of work for them over the years, and 104 never had a problem with that.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

You you know you're what you're seeing in the industry. Now you've now you have bank managers doing work at weekends, covering matches. You have teachers that are doing it. You don't have people that are in the business full time, you have people that are that's what that's what irritates me. Like I went to college, right?

SPEAKER_02 49:41

I mean, I mean I look at I look at at what's happening now, right? And I look at Dan as an example, right? He's worked for every single he's done work for every single Dublin station, plus today FM and News Talk in the last 12 months. Because he's moving around. Now I know also the fact that the Irish radio scene is now owned by conglomerates.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Bauer Media are the biggest player here by a mile, own a lot of stations, and also the recompense is not the same. Like I'm on I was on really, really good money at FM on it for. The guys these days, they're getting a fraction of that money-wise. They don't get to do trips with the Irish team away. They don't get to do trips with the rugby team away. So you don't get the perks that I used to get. Where so for instance now, when I when I worked, uh as a for instance, right? As you know, for many, many uh campaigns, we kept drawing Cyprus in the various competitions, World Cup, European Championships. And what I'd do is the game would usually be on a Saturday. So what I would do is I would self-fund myself to go to Cyprus to do the game, and then I would get it back in charging the various radio stations that I was doing work for, which would cover my costs, give me a small profit uh over over the thing. So I'd go to Cyprus on the Monday, okay? I'd have the Tuesday and Wednesday to get a bit of sun, take it easy. Thursday, the team would arrive, Friday, training, Saturday the match, fly back Sunday. Now, a lot of the journalists wouldn't uh appear until uh the Wednesday night or the Thursday. So I'd be there nice and early to, you know, to have a look and see what was going on. I mean, I I always remember on one of the trips to Cyprus, foot and mouth broke out, and I got an exclusive interview with Bernard O'Byrne about that how that affected the FAI. And because I had that access, it was a case of going to Bernard and saying, Look, I need to teach yourself and Pat Quigley. Foot and mouth broken up broke broken out in Ireland, I need to do a piece. Give us five minutes, Bob. Do you know what I mean? And they were very accommodating with me. Those were the two most senior people in the FAI, and I had the personal relationship with them to be able to get the story, get the interview, and file it fairly quickly because they knew me and I'd been around the scene for a good while. Whereas I don't think that you can get away these days with having those personal relationships at the top level. I mean, for instance, now John Delaney, who, you know, I worked alongside when I worked at the FAI, and I knew John for many, many years. I never had a problem with John. I always knew he was a crook. So I never had a problem with him. And I always dealt with him on a professional basis, and it actually paid dividends for me because John was actually quite good for me, because he put me in touch with other people within the organization that I ended up getting great stories out of. So, you know, those interpersonal relationships, they don't matter so much anymore, I think. And and that's that's a shame because I think that somewhat takes the soul out of it in terms of the fact that you've got you've got the access to the top echelons of the various sports. I mean, uh, John Tracy is a great example. John Tracy, you could give John Tracy a ring and say, listen, John, I'd love to have a little chat with you when soon. John would have a look at the diary and say, Well, look, do you want to do it at the phone? Do you want to do it in person? And you'd make arrangements. And I mean, you know yourself, you, you know John Tracy, the greatest sports administrator that we've ever seen. Probably should have been appointed when Delaney left the FAI as the chief executive of the FAI to sort them out. Because I mean they're still in a terrible, terrible mess.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Oh, yeah, as as we all know.

unknown 53:19

Um, and I mean, Abbott's Town basically it's it's like a white elephant, isn't it? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 53:25

Like they've spent all that money on it, it's out in the middle of bloody nowhere. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 53:28

You know, it's hard for people to get to if you don't drive. I mean, you and I, we're we're proper foot soldiers, we don't drive, so we use buses, we use trains, we we use our lead support and dad to drive us, you know, that way. So, you know, that's that's what we have to do. Whereas like these guys who drive and stuff, it's easy enough for them to get to.

SPEAKER_00 53:48

But you know, I I think that the fact that the personal relationships have gone from sport in a lot of ways, that saddens me.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

I mean, like back in the day when I was in the game, after the matches, the journalists and the players would go on the piss together. You don't see that now.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

But even the GEA and Frank would mention it that we're hiding away our sports stars. Like years ago when I worked for the people in different um national publications, I could text any player and ring them, and you would have a chat with them and became friendly with them. And even Longford Town players, like down to the years, I became friends with them, good friends with them, Owen Harry, uh Paul McNally, you know, those players that I could um but recent years you you can't you don't get that relationship with them.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

No, you don't. I mean, I always rem I always remember actually one of the great nights of my career was in 1999 when Bray Wanderers won the FEI Cup after two replays against Finn Harps, and that night every single Bray Wanderers player, I was working for FM 104, and every single Bray Wanderers player came over to me and and did a piece on on microphone to be used the next day. I had so much footage, it was ridiculous. And then when I got back to Bray, when I walked through the doors of the Royal Hotel, Pat Devlin handed me the cup full of booze.

SPEAKER_00 55:01

You know, it doesn't get much better than that, does it? I was lucky we had bet Devil um on the pod a while ago. But it's great, like I was able to pick up the phone and say to Devil, and he didn't I didn't have to explain who I was. The same at Roddy Collins. Roddy knew who I was.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

Roddy's an hour, I'll done Roddy, Roddy's great. Roddy's brilliant, you know what I mean? Because because he'll he will absolutely rip the hole off you sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:23

Um and and you know, he doesn't mean it, you know what I mean? So, like, you know he's just having a bad day when he's ripping the hole off you, but you know that you ring him again and he'll still talk to you. I mean, I remember the World Cup in I suppose it must have been 2018 when Nova did a thing with Con. Uh Con Murphy was doing it, and Roddy was on with him every night during that World Cup, and somebody said to Con, Don't think Bob's doing it. And Roddy's there, like, uh Bob McKenzie with the English accent. And Con's there, yeah. He's yes, or get him on, he's crap. You know what I mean? So I was able to go on on air with them two and have the bit of crack with Roddy, you know what I mean? And Con Murphy's another good.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

I I I had Con on my pod as well, so it's great to have people like that. And he's a fantastic commentator. It's great having him doing Sherma Grover's games. He should be doing a lot more.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

There's an interesting one for you, Denise.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

Go on.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

I did many, many soccer commentaries over the years, and I must I I think myself and maybe Johnny Lyons were the only two who ever did commentary off the top of their heads with no notes.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

Go away.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

Because as you know now, the commentators they have like big folders now with bits and pieces. I always used to do the commentary just off the top of my head. Do you know what I mean? And and you've got to be confident to do that. And I always remember one of my favourite commentaries that I did was uh a ladies' football match in the soccer, and it was actually Katie Taylor's last appearance for Ireland, and it was held in Bray, and Ireland were playing Sweden, and at the time Sweden were probably number one in the world, and they battered us 5-0, and my co-com in in the the the box was Sue Sue from the FAI. A second name was escaped to me now. Um, but she was absolutely brilliant, she was in charge of like the women's end of things in the FAI. Uh Sue Roland. Sue Roland, that's her name. And Sue was fantastic because she know all the girls, she knew what they had for breakfast, she knew, you know, what colours they liked, you know, she knew what countries they've visited, she knew what teams they played for underage. She was an absolute dream to have alongside you. And when you're doing, you know, matches live, it can be quite a stressful thing. But when you have somebody like that alongside you who knows what they're talking about, has such a grasp of you know what you're doing, it's brilliant because it makes your job so much easier.

SPEAKER_00 57:43

Doesn't it just, doesn't it just? Look at Mr. It's great to hear your dulcet tones again. Book punk has been absolutely brilliant, and if anyone is interested in it, come along onto Facebook and find us. And if you like books and it's great, like there's some great people in there, and we've I chat about different things as well. But um, Bob, keep being I can't see you being anyone else, but keep being you.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

Ah, thanks, Denise. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Jess.

SPEAKER_00 58:07

Yeah, it probably is.

SPEAKER_02 58:08

To be fair, Denise, you've never said anything nasty to me now. No, myself and you have gone on. I know you I know you more years than we care to remember, my love. So, you know, you're you're you're one of you're one of my best friends in the business.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Even even even with even with Liverpool and things like that, we we can have our conversations, and then I know you have um a soft spot obviously for Legion Identity and then the great uh Sir Kevin now, Sir Kevin Sinfield as well.

SPEAKER_02 58:34

So Oh, I'll tell you, that that man just I just find him so inspiring. I mean, I know nothing about rugby league. I know you love your rugby league. I know nothing about rugby, you know. Um and it's not a game that I would watch very often, but what he has done for the M and D community, you know, Doddy as well, you know, and now uh you've got others who are going through it. Lewis Moody now, the latest I see. Um, and of course the lad from Ipswich as well, what's his name? Marcus Stewart. Um there's a lad uh Steph Alden's husband as well.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Um, you know, he's going through it as well.

SPEAKER_02 59:05

But what he what he is doing is just sensational. And you know, I mean, when he did like, you know, Seven Marathons in Seven Days, and you know, he he's just I mean, he is the man of steel. Like he is Superman. There is there is no other there is no other epithet I could possibly give him. I just admire the man so so much.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

He absolutely wouldn't be very big into a bit like yourself, big into the whole nighthoods and that, but it was one that was fully deserved.

unknown 59:31

Well, I see I see our pal Stephen Watson um got honoured in the last honours list as well.

SPEAKER_02 59:36

Um he got an MBE for services to broadcasting, which I thought was lovely because he's he's a good guy, um, and I always had a great bit of crap with him.

SPEAKER_00 59:44

I like your opinion. Might me everyone's opinion. As I say, keep being you, Bob.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Thanks very much.

SPEAKER_00 59:49

You take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

I'll do me best.