THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

I wonder how much interest there will actually be in him? What would be a reasonable fee and are there clubs out there who will offer it? I think we will be disappointed in the figures that get talked about but have to accept the best bid as with a year left and clearly wanting to go the alternative is to hope to get a decent season out of him before he leaves for nothing.

I gave it another go, but to be honest I really struggled to understand what they were saying. I know that's a bit rich coming from someone fron the west of Scotland, but at points it just came across as a noise. Anyone care to summarize?

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When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

There was a bit where he said the place won't be the same without the SOWSYC podcast and that may cause him to leave.

That explains the emails we used to get every week complaining that "I always enjoy your podcast, but I can't understand a single word the Scottish one says"

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When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

I’m hoping we have the option of an extension which seems to be our approach to contracts for younger players.

These two have some of the coarsest Dub accents I have ever heard.

Essentially WOH says it's hard to gauge "where he's at" in terms of his development because he spent so much time out injured which I thought meant "I'm not sure how many offers there will be because I didn't play much last season", and said he was at an age where he felt it was crunch time for his development.

He also doesn't seem to be financially motivated or whatever, just wants to play at a higher level and do the best he can, already thinks his career was a success after several knockbacks. Mentions he bought a house in England, has an English girlfriend, basically is set up here to progress in the English system. Not sure he would be the type to hold out for a lot of money himself, which is why I am concerned the club would let him go for too low a fee.

What is clear is he seems himself playing in the Championship for sure at some point and at 24 he probably is feeling the itch to move up sooner rather than later. Some players do suffer from the "he is really good....for this level" stereotype which might inhibit their progress if they stay in L1/L2 for too long.

Awk come on now, as far as Irish accents go there are pretty mild. The interview does jump about quite quickly. My takeaways;

- O’Hora comes across as a nice lad with a good head on his shoulders. He is thoughtful about football and his own career and realistic about his aims and aspirations. He would like to play in the championship at some point but recognises it’s a challenging league.

- He loves Bohemians (a Dublin Irish league team) he grew up right beside their stadium and even now he gets excited at the idea of playing in it. He said the atmosphere was better their than in Hillsborough. (In terms of it being a hostile place for the opposition).

- It also sounds like he really cares about MK Dons. Last season destroyed him, he didn’t want to speak to anyone or think about football for a few weeks after the season. He went back to Ireland and spent time with his family. He certainly didn’t rule out staying with MK and referenced not knowing what league 2 was like so couldn’t comment on it too much. He did of course imply that if there were offers from higher up he would have to consider it. Which is fair enough in my opinion. My interpretation of this was that he was respectful MK in the answer he gave. Others my disagree.

- At one point he mentions Lewie and talks about him being a brilliant captain and mentor. Nice touch.

- Rates O’Riley as the best player he has played with. Describes him as a footballing machine.

- talks a bit about recruitment being wrong last summer. Not enough players ready for the league from the start.

- sounds like he had a good relationship with Manning. Talks about mutual trust.

Yes, fair to say he was respectful about the club and fans. Mentioned he felt the fans here in MK really appreciate him. Overall a realistic and respectful podcast.

Agree with the comments above - he came across really well. You always learn much more about a player from those sorts of interviews than you do from the sanitised, formulaic three minute club jobs. It did surprise me when he said he had a year left on his contract when he only signed a new one during last season. If that's right and there's no option, I wouldn't be surprised if he does move on this summer. Oxford would probably suit him.