Second Captains

On Friday afternoon, the FAI revealed the true disastrous state of its financial affairs.Later that evening, we welcomed Richie Sadlier and 2019 Journalist of the Year Mark Tighe, whose reporting in the Sunday Times helped to bring about John Delaney's downfall as FAI CEO, to help us sift through the wreckage.

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Munster, Leinster and Ulster all won in Europe this week, with only a disappointing second half from Connacht between us and a clean sweep... but the shadow of the Rugby World Cup malfunction still hovers. Munster/Saracens was ruined by the weather in Thomond on Saturday, while Leinster made hay in the sunshine in Northampton. But not even those results could move Rory Best's comments in the IRFU World Cup review from top billing. Did he really throw Joe Schmidt under the bus? And did David Nucifora give him a hand while he was doing it? Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times, and Chris Hewitt cover the on-field action, and Dennis Hickie refuses to completely agree that Schmidt's reputation is getting a battering. Plus there's roofless theatres, host nations, and book reviews.

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Freddie Arsenal DNA Ljungberg's Arsenal were recognisably Arsenal, and that is not necessarily a good sign. Is there a chance that Brendan Rodgers' links with the job could become more than "hypothetical"? Jack Grealish's sensational performance at Old Trafford was a big part of the reason why Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team still has only four wins from 14 matches. How long can this form go on before the patience runs out?We also discuss Barcelona's new season documentary, just released on Rakuten TV.Andy Hunter joins us to talk Everton. How can a team that on the face of it has a core of good players be... so bad? And with a list of upcoming fixtures that reads something like Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid 1956-60, Arsenal, Holland 1974, Leicester, Barcelona 2009-11 - what chance is there for Marco Silva to turn this around?

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If Jim Gavin had resigned shortly after the five-in-a-row had been achieved, then it would have been seen as surprising, but not shocking. The fact that he has left the most high-profile job in the GAA as the calendar ticks into December means the news, which broke on Saturday morning, qualifies as a bombshell. Oisin McConville and Michael Foley of the Sunday Times talk to us about why it happened now, what he did while he was in the job, and who's going to take over from him. And in the midst of all that, we celebrate a final record which reads - played 107, won 86, lost 11, drew 10. Six All-Irelands, and one championship defeat in 7 years. Ken wistfully recalls the Jim Gavin that he knew and loved, Murph's news nose was on-point in the hours before the announcement, and we have a little Blindboy taster ahead of a stellar month on the Second Captains World Service.

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Much like last week on the World Service when Maurico Pocchetino was relieved of his duties at Spurs, the Emery news threw all our careful planning out the window - let’s just put out a podcast on the big news of the day and so that’s what we did.That pod is out now - along with a fun look back on Tiger's last 10 years, a Champions League review and all the week's other big sports stories - you can have listen once you’re signed up on secondcaptains.com

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Manchester City kept the chase going with a narrow win over Chelsea that saw Guardiola's team notch up an unwanted first. Are we seeing cracks appear on the glittering City facade?Meanwhile the Ole-outometer was swinging more wildly than a Phil Jones attempted clearance as the Uniteds of Sheffield and Manchester traded the lead and shared the points. United stay ninth in the Premier League - but they're doing a lot better in a certain Other table, where they have some surprising company in the top six.Jonathan Wilson and Rory Smith join us to talk about the weekend's football. Why can't Jonathan bring himself to believe in Ole? What emotions did the return of Jose make Rory feel? And what do they think of the BBC giving such prominence to offbeat South American ding-a-ling, the Copa Libertadores Final?

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Ireland had 4 wins from 4 in Round 1 of the European Rugby Champions Cup last week, but we had to make do with 2 wins and a draw this week - and the only defeat came from what might have been the best performance of the lot, Connacht away to Toulouse. We talk about Munster's thrilling draw at home to Racing with Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times and one of Racing's returning Munster-men Donnacha Ryan, as well as Leinster's gritty 7 point win in Lyon, and Ulster's victory over a sorry Clermont on Friday night. That Clermont performance led some (including Murph) to question the integrity of the competition, and we also discuss nutmegs in rugby, November hurling in the tropics, and marvellous Brendan Maher.

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It has been a dramatic week on the Second Captains World Service, and we thank the football Gods that Ken, Murph, Eoin and Richie were not armed during a particularly heated debrief on Tuesday after Ireland's 1-1 draw with Denmark. With disaster narrowly averted, Ken went to Tallaght to see the Ireland u-21s, and his love of the game was duly restored, before his heart was crushed again by Daniel Levy and Jose Mourinho. Check out what you've been missing on the Second Captains World Service as we roar at each other about James McClean, Matt Doherty, Mick McCarthy and many, many others...

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The Rugby World Cup is barely over but time waits for no man, and it seemed like the Irish players were only too happy to re-focus their attention on a tournament that they actually like playing in, and have even won from time to time. Shane Horgan and Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times guide us through the main talking points of the opening weekend of this season's tournament - with Saracens fielding a second string, Ireland's provinces invincible, and a lot of Irish players generally looking pretty angry. Plus - there's an admonishment for Ken for not 'spoiler-alerting' the ending of a book that was written in 1856, Murph salutes a young GAA player heading 'off foreign', and an emailer tells us of the perils of coaching kids.

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With the Danes in town and maybe ready to teach us another cruel lesson, we take refuge in nostalgia and revisit the week 10 years ago when Ireland went full Alex Jones. We also look to the longer-term future, with Kieran Lucid and Brendan Dillon joining us in studio to bring us up to speed with what's been happening on the question of the all-island league. But we can't hide forever from the present. Tonight it's Ireland v Denmark for a place in the Euros, and hopefully James McClean can prove as uncompromising a presence on the pitch as he was last week in the pressroom.Eoin does his best to talk us into positivity, and there’s Mick bites your hand off, goal communism and cheats a-plenty.

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