The Second Captains Podcast

Prague Week starts with Kenny Cunningham joining us in studio to talk about how he wants to see Ireland approach the World Cup playoff on Tuesday night. Caution: Kenny's team may shock you. We talk about the Carabao Cup final, and whether the tactical match-up of baiting the press vs refusing to press is the worst thing ever to happen to football. While all this is happening Ken goes out to Abbottstown to hear the latest from the Ireland camp, where John O'Shea and Nathan Collins were holding court. Plus Arne Slot's use of resources, Chelsea's misbegotten alignment strategy, and whether basic overexposure to football is making Ken more irritable with the kinds of goals he sees teams giving away.

Welcome to our World Service taster show and this week it's all about the build-up to the World Cup Playoff against Czechia. We will be in Prague next week, in the heart of the action, broadcasting two shows a day from our balcony.We also had retro Mo, Pep's legacy, Rosenior's notes, Saint Parrott's Day, and coming up we have Gary Breen on the Iran 2001 playoff, and next week its more build up to the match in Prague, and the fallout from Man City V Arsenal.To become a member and hear our shows all week it costs 5 euro a month and there’s no ads, no sign up fee, no minimum stay, no contract, and we’re independent and member led – go to secondcaptains.com/join

Thomas Ramos' kick in the 83rd minute of the last game decided the championship, broke Irish hearts, and was one of hundreds of epic moments that made up the greatest Six Nations yet.We chat to Shane Horgan and Andrew Trimble about the quality of rugby on display, Ramos' reliability, Pollock's winner/loser moment, McCloskey's massive influence on Ireland, Crowley's best performance in green, Farrell's contract situation and all the positives that have come out of this tournament for Ireland.Plus there Murph's Sixth Nations Sense, a Roscommon divided and Baloucoune showing Darcy Graham he was there for the taking.

Is the future like a black highway at night? What does it really mean to 'respect the ball'? And is there anything in the game with such universal appeal as an implausibly aged footballer? We pick the likely player of the year candidates and discuss why Manchester United's transformation under Michael Carrick is Arne Slot's biggest problem in more ways than one.Rory Smith and Rich Jolly join us to talk about the weekend's football. Max Dowman brings joy. Has this been Guardiola's worst week? And are Liverpool really serious about backing Arne Slot all the way through to 2027?

Welcome to our world service taster show.To become a member and hear our shows all week it costs 5 euro a month and there’s no ads, no sign up fee, no minimum stay, no contract, and we’re independent and member led – go to secondcaptains.com/join

Rangers and Celtic timed their run well, staging a chaotic Scottish Cup quarter-final heightened by some old-school “disgraceful scenes” on an FA Cup weekend to finally get some overdue coverage on here. But are Old Firm riots as stirring as they used to be? The archive audio suggests otherwise.But - as we bemoan the violence crackling everywhere in the air, what about journalist-on-journalist violence - or journalist-on-influencer, or ant-on-elephant, or whatever you would call the astonishing attack launched by one of the people in this studio on the world’s most famous football reporter? Ken explains why he was wielding his tiny knifeTom English was at Ibrox to see the Cup quarter-final between Rangers and Celtic, and shares his impressions of the Day of Shame (plus a few thoughts on Scottish rugby’s Day of Pride).

Scotland defeated France 50 points to 40 on Saturday in one of the greatest northern hemisphere performances of the professional era, and are now in the frame for the 6 Nations championship… after losing to Italy in the first round.They face Ireland in Lansdowne Road next Saturday, a team Gregor Townsend has lost to 11 times in a row. We chat to Shane Horgan and the BBC's Chris Jones about the swashbuckling Scots, Ireland's predictable but winning rugby against Wales, France's old frailties, the Italians creating history in Rome, and where to next for Steve Borthwick's shambolic England team.The Scotland rugby whisperer takes his latest victory lap, then puts on his permutations man hat ahead of the final weekend of games, and we have some exciting plans for the playoff game in Prague.

We have a special bonus World Service podcast for you all today. The show you’re about to hear caused quite a stir amongst our members over the past week, many of whom suggested it should be released free to air. So here it is.Edwin Edogbo made his debut for Ireland against Italy earlier this month. The experience was marred by online racist abuse he suffered on Irish Rugby channels, culminating in comments on X being blocked by the IRFU. The reaction to this was one of anger, outrage and despair.Since then, we’ve been taking a look at from who and from where these comments originated, and the story is a little more complicated. Mark speaks to Dr Eileen Culloty, Associate Professor in the School of Communications in DCU where she’s also Deputy Director of the DCU Institute for Media, Democracy & Society about the rise in co-ordinated online attacks, the numbers involved, and the idea that what we are now paying such attention to are ‘phantom publics’. Do these posts reflect where we are as a society and did they receive appropriate media coverage?Thanks to our members, we get the opportunity to delve a little deeper on stories like this. Please support independent journalism and join us today for just 5 euro a month at secondcaptains.com.