LOI Central

In this week's carbon neutral pod we travel forward in time to chat to Tom Grivosti of St. Pats and virtually welcome Derry and Ireland Under 21 Assistant Manager Alan Reynolds back to the pod to talk about handshakes, housewreckers, headcases and a small bit of football. There's the continuing saga of the mystery voice, the new Johnny Ward voice of advertising, the increasingly popular mailbag, the usual legal wranglings of O'Donnell, Clancy and Higgins, and a milk run gone wrong. All of this over a few laughs and a coffees in our Oliver Ireland studio and of course thanks to our usual sponsors, Future Ticketing, Porterhouse Brewing and Lou Feringo's favourite tailors, Collar & Cuff!

What's the difference between X-Factor and X-Rated? It's not quite a PC discussion but we do have a PC to join us this week with Paul Corry dropping in along with Pat Fenlon to discuss the relationship they could have enjoyed, Troy Parrott's development, the coaching of Irish midfielders and much more besides. Johnny's favourite young managers get a mention but there's credit for some old dogs too. Don't do a Corry on it and leave before the end.

Sun's out and Johnny's out, well out from the cloud of CoVid and back in studio for episode 6. Guitar hero, winged wonder and ex PFAI executive Ollie Cahill, joins us for a chat about Dan's dubious predictions, Away days in Kyiv, "The Gaza Strip" in Abbotstown, Paul Doolin, the other 'Ollie' at Shels and a whole heap of miscellany too random to work into this piece. All of this plus a roundup of the weekend games, Dan's twittering, the ever popular mailbag and the Porterhouse mystery voice. All of this as ever is brought to you in conjunction with Collar & Cuff, Future Ticketing and Malone Financial Services, so fire up the outdoor grill and tune in!

This weeks show is brought to you by the letter 'C'. C is for Cheltenham, CoVid, Clattering, Custodians and Chunes. With Johnny isolating, Dan grabs words with Stephen O’Donnell and the Irish sounding German Leon Pohls after Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers before the separated duo joust over mystery voices, echo chambers, double week of fixtures,and season passes. Topically there's a Ukraine Charity Match with excellent Guinness on the northside. You get all this without the usual all American Patty's day palaver that goes with this weekend, so turn your porterhouses green, tune in, drop by and you might get a winner!

A downright giddy pod has Johnny shoulder dancing with GAA players, those Kiwi gypsies who apparently rejuvenated a championship winning team, and should you get a player sent off? If that wasn't enough we have a very special guest as Ireland Under 21 manager Jim Crawford drops by for a lengthy chat. As well as the upcoming Sweden game and the lowdown on the current class of '22, there's tackling a cheeky little Bordeaux, the granny rule, eligibility drama, marking the pitch in Harolds Cross and the Shels connection. Throw in the mailbag, the mystery voice with the Porterhouse, losing your shirt at Cheltenham with Collar & Cuff, and the mystery of the missing winner and you have all you need to get warmed up for another double fixture week!

It's episode 3 and Mark Scanlon, the League of Ireland Director, drops by the pod for an extended chat about the big issues. There's third tiers, women's leagues, season tickets, LOI TV, Stadia, rankings and everything in between. As well as all that we have your mailbag questions answered , a sprinkling of Damien Duff, and our new and improving Mystery Voice competition where you can win beer if you're not off it for Lent, and if you want to drink it in a nice suit, our friends from Collar & Cuff will look after you. Yes, your 40 days and nights of sacrifice begins right here!

On the day the national underage league launches, we have a fascinating talk with two people employed full time to run an academy in Ireland. Cork City's Liam Kearney and Shamrock Rovers' Shane Robinson drop by the studio to look at how the underage game has developed and hopes to develop in light of Brexit and the new European football landscape. Also on this weeks captivating episode Dan delves further into the Cork City story and Johnny offers a spellbinding insight into the Russian situation and Vlad the Impaler. There's a mystery voice winner draw, a new mystery voice that's slightly less mysterious and the usual enthralling look at the weeks action. All of this and not one mention of the 'I' word!

It's a brand new season but with some old favourites. Johnny's ankle is fixed after his cup final cliffhanger and his first two legged assignment is to welcome Damien Duff to his world of young management. Johnny McDonnell drops in on his way back from Karachi to explain the St Patrick's Athletic/Pakistan/Michael Owen alliance which raised more eyebrows than Johnny's winter move to the FAI. Dan isn't sure if he really, really wants our new mystery competition and we catch up with Derry's Ronan Boyce for a supervised interview ahead of the 2022 campaign. There's also a club by club preview, a Troy McClure impression and a pod you may remember for such partners as Future Ticketing, Malone Financial Services & Porterhouse Brewing Company.

For our 2021 swan song we have cup winning captain Ian Bermingham in studio to talk new season, new contract, new manager and new baby! We also have some of his old manager's press conference as Johnny poses a few questions to Stevie O'Donnell. Georgie Kelly zooms in and explains why he had to strike while the iron was hot. Johnny and Dan discuss the big news stories over the last week and Aisling Fennin from Future Ticketing looks ahead to what Johnny is so very very very excited about. Ask any taxi driver!

Unlike a book of Charlie Haughey's broken promises we do return for a penultimate show with Johnny the one legged wisecrackin' reluctant beer drinking sidelined journalist and Dan, the Woodstein of the current breaking news week in his own version of 'All the Presidents Men' where Michael D has tape recordings of this week's guests Shane Supple and Ian Morris in compromising conversations. Probably not about breaking in to any offices or in Ian's case getting awards and then getting taken out of office! Lots and lots of chat about the year that was, the year that could be, who's going, who's staying and whether Johnny will avoid CoVid before the last show! It's episode 39 and its a humdinger.