Tales From The East Stand

There's six points on the road against Shelbourne and Drogheda to talk about, with the help of journalist Barry Landy to cover Drogheda's European expulsion. Plus: Duffer's meltdown, the demise of Soccerway.com and the Club World Cup, and the greatest voice note of all time by Eoghan Rice.

Two shows this week. Here we've got some reaction to the European draw, and a double author feature ahead of Dalymount Park - although neither man has been to a derby in decades. Paul Howard recalls the smell of Milltown, and writing two of his books, "Gaffers", about Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane, and "The Rodfather", on Roddy Collins and his time at both Dublin clubs, while Donal Cullen tells us about following Bohemians from Canada, and the five new Irish football books he's just released on Bohs, Shels and the first three League of Ireland seasons.

It's part two of our 2000s series. Brian McKenna and John Byrne, who was part of the takeover of the club by the fans and media officer for five years, talk 2004 and 2005, with stadium skullduggery, unpaid wages, examinership and the High Court, survival, Roddy's reign, relegation heartbreak and a new dawn under Pat Scully.

Barry Murphy fills in for Gar this week where the only goal in Tallaght he got to commentate on was the Walking Football. Baz gives his mid-season report and talks all sorts of topics such as signing for Roddy in 2005 and cheques starting to bounce, a friendly win at Sunderland in 2007 under Pat Scully, Josh Honohan, Don Patricio, and all our potential European opponents in the Conference League draw with the help of Shane Kavanagh and Ryan McDyer.

We have Aaron McEneff's late winner in Derry and Irish managers winning league titles across the continent to talk about. No, not Robbie Keane - our author series continues with Sue O'Connell and 'The Man Who Saved Barcelona FC': The Extraordinary Life of Patrick O'Connell', the Dubliner who led Real Betis, in search of their first European trophy on Wednesday night, to their only La Liga in 1935.

We've got IKEA, haircuts, tonks and three wins out of three to talk about (first hour) before the conclusion of our Goodbye Goodison series with Robert Goggins, Robbie Gaffney, and Rovers and Everton fans Paul Clayton, Anto Matthews & Craig Mahon (Members Corner) and Dean O'Reilly.

No match reports in this one as we've got the Juz-Line, Christine Allen's women's team update and a double author feature, starting with Cian Manning's "I Love Me County: Waterford Sporting Stories", ahead of Friday's trip to the RSC. Then, for our Goodbye Goodison series, you'll hear from Steve Zocek on his book 'Goodison Memories: Looking Back Before Looking Forward', before another Everton fan, Ben Winstanley (A View From The Bullens) talks Sunday's emotional farewell to the famous ground. PS: all recorded before Tuesday's news. PPS: Happy Birthday Shannon~!

We're back to winning ways against Sligo, with Greener's 100th LEAGUE goal and a new TFTES Hotline. Paul Hayes, Nathan Johnston, Eric Brennan, Tony Grant, Damian Brennan, Greg Donaghy, Darren Gillen, Tommy Tormey and Dan Fulham are our nine callers with topics ranging from strike partnerships, 90s bands and Asian holidays to bad driving habits.

We talk the 2-2's, the Pope and Gar's phone battery dying along with everything else happening at the club.

We see how long we can go without talking about the games as two former Hoops are interviewed - Santry era winger Brian Byrne, and first, Karl Sheppard, a league winner at both Rovers and Cork, who meet at Turner's Cross on Friday.

A short, special episode this week, with Bobby Best: In Memoriam. Eight good friends of Bobby - Giggsy Hand, Mark Butler, Mark Turner, Mick Byrne, George Kelly, Robert Goggins, Jim Conroy and Mick McCarthy share their memories of the great man.

There's a recap of the home wins over Waterford and Cork, Pico's fatherhood and Greener's 100 Club, and the Members Corner with Rovers website and internet pioneers Paul Thomas and Gerry Matthews, and a cameo from Forkie on the SRFC Ultras forum (2018 replay). Christine Allen reports on the women's team, including another Ruesha Littlejohn free kick.

We got the Galway trip from the perspective of two different buses, and an inevitable 14th consecutive win out west, and a new edition of the TFTES Hotline with Jimmy Maguire, Dunster, Aidan O'Reilly, Dean Creevey, Eoghan Rice, Macdara, The Gent and The Hogg.

We've got one of the worst games of all time against Derry and one of the most interesting editions of the Members Corner ever with Lighting Designer Steve Douglas joining us in the Lair. Steven has toured with the Killers, Hozier and The Corrs for many years and worked with a number of famous performers all over the world.

It's the beginning of the 2000s series with Brian McKenna and Tony O'Dowd, who was a goalkeeper at the club for the five seasons covered in another special show recorded at the Four Provinces Pub. From Santry to Bertie turning the sod to Odra and a dry cleaners' bill, we've got it all in this deep dive into Hoops history.

We talk the win in Drogheda with Ed McGinty's injury-time penalty save, and, in an international week there's another double author feature with "Shades of Green" by Chris Lee, and "Lansdowne Road", co-written by Gerrard Siggins. The 30th anniversary of the Lansdowne Road Riot passed by recently, so Ger, along with four Rovers fans - Bill Gleeson, Phelim Warren, Graham Merrigan and Con Murphy - recall the events of that day against England.

We talk our first league win of the season against St Pat's, and although we're a week late for International Women's Day and World Book Day, Hannah Dunne interviews Rovers players Melissa O'Kane and Fiona Owens ahead of the women's team's first home game in Tallaght on Saturday, and there's a double author feature with two Rovers fans who have written non-football books. With Friday's trip to top of the table Drogheda, Dr Thomas Tormey, who has been Historian in Residence with Louth Library Service since 2021, tells us about "War and Peace in the Wee County", his year-long 90s series with Juz on the podcast, ranking our best ever European results and more. First, Karl catches up with his old primary school classmate Aaron Rogan, author of "Punters", a book about the rise of Paddy Power and the online gambling industry.

We talk the St Pat's and Sligo games, Rory, Roddy and Ian Harte. There's an interview with St Pat's fan 'Dodge' as Rovers look for their first league win of the season on Friday night.

We've a lot to catch up on but the first hour and a half relates to tonight's game against Shelbourne at Tolka Park, with some chit chat about recent podcasts, the LIST OF HATRED, starting XI and predictions and an interview with League of Ireland legend Mark Rutherford, who played for both clubs. There's penalty shootout heartbreak in our Conference League knockout tie with Molde, a Dublin Derby loss at Lansdowne Road and then a home game against Cork that was rained off. Our other interview is the curious case of the Scandinavian Hoops, a Rovers supporters' club based in Norway.

It's the fifth and final part of our 1990s series with Justin Mason and Tommy Tormey. We relive the 1998/99 season, with a guest appearance from Jim Conroy about being in Turkey in the summer of '98. We talk the FAI Super Cup, Jason Sherlock's helicopter, the hole in the net at Oriel Park and more, before a new era under Damien Richardson in Santry begins. On the topic of programme notes...Con Murphy reads a sample from Rico.

It's our first podcast in two months and we've got Stephen Jones' review of our Civic Theatre Show, and a double author feature. Eamonn Donohue (Cabra Cadabra, 2015) becomes our first novelist to be interviewed, and we round off our look back at Stamford Bridge with Nik Yeomans, whose new book is called Blue is the Colour: The Complete History of the Chelsea Shirt.

There's a preview of the Molde tie with Norwegian sports reporter Vegard Flemmen Vaagbø, a round up of all the news since Christmas and a Chelsea, theatre, quiz and car themed TFTES Hotline, with Gary O'Neill among the 10 callers.

Our Christmas Show special guest is Dunster, just days after his 50th birthday and seeing his brother elected to the Members Board, joining us in the Lair to look back at the Rapid Vienna and Borac games and plan our trip to Stamford Bridge on Thursday. We announce our three Rovers players/staff for the TFTES Live Show at the Civic on January 11th, there's a replay of a Leo O'Reilly interview about him scoring twice for Rovers against Chelsea in 1955, and a chat with George Cronin, Glenn's dad, a supporter of both the Hoops and the Blues since the 70s.

We've got news on our return to the Civic Theatre on January 11th, Phelim Warren's report on the Rovers in the Community Project (from 49 mins), Goran Arbutina on everything you need to know about Thursday's opponents Borac Banja Luka (1 hour 33 mins), and two TFTES Hotlines ahead of Saturday's Member's Club AGM, with four of the six candidates up for election - Ciaran Kane, Colm Nolan, Sean Blake and Denis Donohue - calling in (the hour mark). Later, eight fans share their Vienna experience: Brian & Liz McKenna, Anto Proctor, Albert McCready, John "Dikie" Doyle, Aidan Maher, Eamonn MacConville and John Byrne (2 hours 37 mins).

We've got a round up of the news the last couple of weeks and journalist Anna Konovalova has everything you need to know about Rapid Vienna ahead of Rovers' trip to the Austrian capital.

We talk Rovers getting 7 points in group stage football after the win over Welsh champions TNS, and Mark Langshaw, author of 'A League of Our Own: The Cymru Premier Story', tells us about the only book written about domestic football over there. Plus: the karma of Derry losing the FAI Cup final to Drogheda, with Dave Webster returning to the podcast for a chat about a fairytale end to his 17-year career.

We reflect on the last day of the league season which saw the title go to Shelbourne, and we're joined by John Lumley from TNS ahead of Thursday's Conference League group stage game in Tallaght.

We're Zoomin' on Halloween to talk the wins in Belfast, with the Graham Burke Show, and Dundalk, which takes the title race down to the last day. Harry Moore hosts the quiz final between Gary O'Neill and Conan Noonan in front of the players and staff at Roadstone.

We're back with a stuffy Drogheda recap with a Dylan Watts thunderbolt, Sean Hoare vs Conan Noonan and Gary O'Neill vs Pico Lopes in the quiz semi-finals, and Larne marketing officer Chris Liddle helps us look ahead to Thursday's European trip to Belfast.

We have 300th episode reaction and three match reviews, against Pat's, APOEL and Shelbourne, with the Jack Byrne mic drop, pro wrasslin' and an unpredictable title race.

To celebrate 300 episodes of TFTES, we do things a little differently in part four of a long-running 1990s series with Justin Mason and Tommy Tormey, as we invite lots of guests up on stage at the Four Provinces. Brian McKenna has the honour of being substituted for Pat Byrne, general manager in that 1996/97 season, and they're followed by former teammates Tony Cousins, Derek Tracey and Tony O'Dowd. Hoops fans Mick Kearns, Bill Gleeson, Mick McCarthy, Eoghan Rice and Paul Donohoe round out our guest list to chat about Europe, podcast and 90s highlights.

We talk that penalty in Derry and the wand in Tallaght, before the September edition of the TFTES Hotline with nine callers and ten topics. Plus there's news on our upcoming 300th episode, and an APOEL preview with the help of John Leonidou and 'This Is Mappa' podcast.

There's back-to-back wins over Sligo and Galway, Dundalk nearly going out of business, Aaron Greene vs Conan Noonan and Sean Hoare vs Johnny Kenny in the quiz quarter-finals and the return of 'In Memoriam', as we pay tribute to Maureen Connolly and Anthony McDonald once again and hear touching memories from eight new sons and daughters.

We talk the PAOK and Bohs defeats, there's reaction to the Conference Group Stage draw, Dr Glenn Doyle and Anna Maria Mullally on their Rovers in the Community Research Project, two quarter final quizzes with Gary O'Neill vs Aaron McEneff and Pico Lopes vs Rory Gaffney and another author feature, Trevor Keane on his books 'Gaffers: 50 Years of Irish Football Managers' and 'Dave Langan: Running Through Walls'. Plus, hear from Rovers' Walking Football players ahead of the festival in Abbotstown on Saturday the 14th.

Emma Wheatley fills in for Gary this week with her thoughts on the Celje, PAOK and Galway games, the RTE debate, her board role, following the club since the 90s and more. Our last round of 16 quiz game is between Conan Noonan and Lee Steacy, with the quarter-final lineup finally revealed by Harry, and there's another edition of the Members Corner with Ger Fitzgerald.

Juz and Tommy are back for part 3 of our 90s series (1995-97). The first 47 minutes of the show has thoughts on the Celje win which secured group stage football, and an interview with Thessaloniki based journalist Petros Charizaklis ahead of the PAOK tie before we get into the Dublin Dons, Trainspotting, the end of Ray Treacy's reign and the beginning of the Tallaght project, Tony Cousins and the St Valentine's Day Massacre.

We have Celje first leg and Drogheda recaps, an interview with Kevin Burke on his book 'One Night in Dudelange', about UCD's 2015 Europa League adventure which featured Collie O'Neill, Gary O'Neill and Dylan Watts, before Macdara Ferris chats to Rovers striker Stephanie Zambra ahead of Saturday's All-Island Cup Final against Galway in Tallaght.

The TFTES Hotline makes its return, the upcoming Prague edition with 11 first-time callers. Sean Hoare and Darragh Burns' history knowledge is put to the test in the quiz, there's our Waterford review, and Jakob Batic, a Slovenian football journalist helps us look ahead to Celje away tonight in the Europa League.

Gary is back in the host chair and Karl returns from Prague with thoughts on the FAI Cup and two Champions League games with Sparta. Richie Towell and Dan Cleary tackle the quiz qualifiers.

Tony O'Dowd and Dutch Jerry are this week's guest co-hosts to talk an incredible Champions League night and look ahead to Friday's FAI Cup tie at Dalymount. Both former goalkeepers, Tony was Jerry's favourite player, so the lads recall classic derby games he played in during the early 00s. Markus Poom and Sean Hoare take the quiz, plus there's an interview with Czech football reporter Ondřej Zlámal on next week's game with Sparta Prague.

David King and Wooly fill in for Gary this week to take us through that scoreless draw in the Champions League first leg in Iceland. There's also a new edition of the Members Corner with Gary Keane in Berlin ahead of Sunday's Euro 2024 final.

A year after his last appearance in the Lair, Con Murphy is back to once again turn the microphone on your hosts. But first, Josh Honohan faces Conan Noonan in the quiz, the three of us talk a bad night in Sligo and look ahead to next week's Champions League tie in Iceland, with Vikingur Reykjavik marketing manager Hoddi Agustsson. We have author Dave Harry on travelling to all 55 UEFA nations for his new pictorial book 'Football Landscapes of Europe', before Con reads a piece on Rovers' 1961 USA tour in honour of Independance Day, in which Tommy Hamilton, Rovers' sole survivor from their first ever European game against Manchester United in 1957, is interviewed.

Tommy Tormey and Justin Mason are back in the Four Provinces to take us through the 1993/94 title winning season under Ray Treacy, Rovers' only major trophy in the 22 years between Milltown and Tallaght, and 1994/95 with the fallout of the departures of Geoghegan, Byrne and Eccles.

There's a horrendous Richmond repeat, Gary O'Neill begins his defence of his Questions From The East Stand trophy against Graham Burke, and Hannah Dunne interviews Athlone Town women's manager Ciarán Kilduff on memorable European nights with Rovers and Dundalk, as the Champions League draw sends us to Iceland again. Meanwhile, we go from Cologne to Frankfurt as Alan O'Neill, Eoghan Rice (Noel Campbell in the Bundesliga) and three Hoops Scene contributors, Ciarán Gentleman, Macdara Ferris and Fiachra Ó Brolacháin, continue our German football series.

We round up the last fortnight of news with two postponed games and two great goals in Drogheda, pit Aaron McEneff against Darragh Nugent in the quiz and look ahead to next week's Champions League draw with the help of Ryan McDyer. It's 36 years to the day of the win over England in Stuttgart, so a trio of Rovers fans, Mick Kearns, Jim Conroy and Phelim Warren provide a first hand account of Ireland's first ever tournament in Germany. There's interviews with former Hoops captain Paul Whelan, whose brother Ronnie scored that amazing volley in the next game against USSR in Hanover, and Steven Scragg, author of a new book, "Euro 88: The Football Purists' European Championship".

An obscenely long show because of our ongoing German series, but with two weeks to digest it. This time we feature Bayern Munich, as Macdara Ferris reads his article on Rovers' Cup Winners' Cup tussle with Beckenbauer and co. in 1966, and John 'Dikie' Doyle, a club member of Bayern and a fan of the German national team since the 1970s, tells his story. All that plus Lee Grace and Trevor Clarke in the quiz qualifiers, and May's TFTES Hotline with a Tallaght, Germany, elections, ice-cream and haircuts theme, and the vast majority of our XI hail from D24.

We have Dundalk and Derry recaps (the latter is much longer), and Aaron Greene vs Neil Farrugia in the quiz, before the second week of 'Tales From Deutschland'. There's another edition of the Members Corner with Sam, who for the past seven years has lived in Hamburg, our featured team. Con Murphy tells the story of Hamburg and West German legend Uwe Seeler coming out of retirement to score two goals for Cork Celtic against Shamrock Rovers in 1978. Seeler spent nearly all of his life in a town called Norderstedt, the birthplace of Leon Pohls, who tells us about growing up there and supporting HSV and Germany in the World Cup.

We talk the Pat's game, and Harry's quiz is back with Pico Lopes vs Sean Kavanagh before our German football series gets underway. Eoghan Rice has a piece on Rovers' win over Schalke in the 1969 Cup Winners' Cup, and there's the Members Corner with Mick Brazil, a Cork-based supporter who started following Rovers in the same year and was at that European first leg at a foggy Dalymount Park, and couldn't see a thing. Plus, looking ahead to Oriel Park tomorrow, Winston meets the founder of Ireland's only Schalke supporters club, Kevin Orzesek, who lives in Dundalk.

We have the derby and Waterford recaps and a double author feature with a 1924 theme. In their books, David Needham (Ireland's First Real World Cup) and Athlone historian Tadhg Carey (When We Were Kings) tell the largely unknown story of Ireland's original Olympians, who travelled to Paris a hundred years ago this month.

We talk the ROADSTONE PROJECT with four league debuts in the Galway and Drogheda games and celebrate 30 years since the league title win at the RDS, interviewing assistant manager Tony Macken and and top goalscorer Stephen Geoghegan from that season.

We talk a brilliant win in Derry with Greener on the double again and Monday's scoreless draw at sandy Shels. The TFTES Hotline for April has topics ranging from late winners to true crime, from favourite biscuits to favourite captains, with one former Hoops skipper, John Toal among a dozen callers.