Wednesday 3 December 2008

Guff said

So apparently Roy Keane has lost the plot, well that’s according to Eamonn Dunphy who in an interview with the BBC declared that Keane’s time at Sunderland is “doomed” and that he will never be a “serious manager”. There is some logic behind this considering Sunderland’s recent record and Keane’s will I go/won’t I go statements over the weekend, but it’s the bit on the “Roy Keane mythology” which is the most interesting.

While it’s troubling enough to hear Dunphy being pally with John Motson (you can hear hell freezing over the in the background), the most worrying thing is that RTE may have to look at one of their top pundits and realise that the man has finally gone a little off the deep end.

The “mythology” he's speaking of is pretty much the creation of a certain Mr E. Dunphy; writer of Keane’s autobiography not to mention defender of the former Man U man to the last on RTE for years (and indeed every media outlet in the known universe back in 2002). The fact that he did this interview on the Beeb of all places, is a little on the funny side too as in the past he’s been pretty vocal about their spoofery supreme.

He tries to dress up the attack by talking about Keane as an intelligent man (“he’s not a headbanger”) but in the famous words which he apparently put in Keane’s mouth, you’d imagine this is just in the hope that Roy won’t turn up on the door of Dunphy’s Georgian mansion with that old Cork greeting, “Bang! Take that ya c**t”.

There are always two sides to a story though, and the irritating thing about Dunphy is that in between all the ranting and raving there is usually a decent point or two buried in the hyperbole. Whether he’s talking about Ronaldo, Liverpool, Ronaldo, Arsene Wenger, Ronaldo, Italian football or Ronaldo; he generally speaks something approaching sense in between the guff, and this is no different. Keane will most likely not be at Sunderland next year for one reason or another, what Dunphy’s opinion on things will be when/if that happens will be interesting anyway. As will Keane’s next press conference.

Later, JJ

8 comments:

Fredorrarci said...

The stuff about Keane believing his own mythology is my favourite football quote of the year, and perhaps all time.

That's a very good point about the kernel of sense that often lies in what Dunphy says. When he calms down, he can actually make (shock horror) sense - see the difference between his talk of Andy Reid being "bullied" and "abused" when Dunphy was on Des Cahill's show and the sane, rational analysis of the midfield situation after the Poland game.

But here's the thing - hasn't he always been off the deep end? And if he were to disappear, would we be glad to see the back of his bullshittery or would we miss it?

One last thing: if you didn't know who the people in that photo were, and you had to guess which one was now dead, you'd never get it right, would you?

Unknown said...

"Eammonn, you're the expert on Spanish football, tell us about Villareal"

Cue semi made-up and generally out of date crap

Anonymous said...

I'd definitely miss him once Trevor Steven or Possibly So came in to replace him. His bullshit is, at the very least, going against the grain of other pundits. It's more the repetitive nature of his complaints than anything that's grating these days.

Good point on the pic Fredorrarci. Fr Eamonn looks half dead already in it.

Mal said...

I think that Eamo lost it a long time ago. His analysis and "expert opinion" is often laughable, especially on champions league nights where he clearly knows almost nothing about European clubs, as Mark pointed out. If ever there was a man believing his own mythology, surely it's Eamonn. He's become all show without substance.

Anonymous said...

EH...Possibly so..-K.C.

Anonymous said...

Just listened to it and noticed the volume control on the audio player goes up to 11. That's a bit Spinal Tap for the bbc... wouldn't you say Kenny? "Eh....(you know the rest)
TMcG

Anonymous said...

Kenny has this great habit of taking up two or three minutes of punditry with around ten words.

'Here again.... turns... Saha... takes the shot... always goin wide'

'Second half... same again... ball down the middle... Vidic... always in control'

Beats Jamie Redknapp using 900 words (453 of which are 'top') to describe a back pass though.

Unknown said...

dunphy's comments can be heard at the bbc: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7759767.stm