Second Captains

After hearing Martin O'Neill's Christmas message, Eoin, Ken and Ciaran discuss Tim Sherwood, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jose Mourinho, and whether or not Ashley Cole is "done". And Tony Barrett of the Times joins us to take a closer look at Liverpool's recent improvement and determine how much of the credit should go to Brendan Rodgers.

Eoin, Ken and Murph discuss whether the oft-maligned Brendan Rodgers is, in fact, a managerial genius, and David Moyes' feelings for his fellow managers. Miguel Delaney told us a couple of weeks ago that Villas-Boas was not long for the Tottenham job, he joins us to talk through the aftermath of the Portuguese's sacking. And Graham Hunter talks about his new book - Spain: the inside story of La Roja's historic treble.

Ireland in the November Series, Ireland in RWC 2011, Leinster and Northampton and Toulouse in recent weeks - how can teams' performances fluctuate so much from week to week - we try and figure out if rugby is more susceptible than most sports to ridiculous turnarounds with Eddie O'Sullivan and Emmett Byrne... and whether Munster showed us something new this weekend. Last week a pair of Michael Jordan's basekball shoes sold for over 100,000 dollars. We ask Brian Murphy about the US phenomenon of sports memorabilia and why the Flu Game in the 1997 NBA finals further burnished the Jordan legend. Ken hates SPOTY, autographs are pointless, grown men shouldn't fight 10 year olds, Millennium 50p coins and other nonsense all included.

Eoin, Ken and Murph discuss the fury of Gonzalo Higuain and whether it might ever be a good idea for Rafael Benitez to rip his shirt off in a post-match interview. Guillem Balague joins us to discuss "Messi" - his new biography of the world's greatest player. And at a time of unprecedented growth in the Manchester United nostalgia interest, Daniel Harris - author of "The Promised Land", a new book about the 98-99 Treble season - tries to untangle the complex and ever-shifting relationships of United's 1990s and 2000s heroes.

Two clean sweeps in a row for the Irish provinces in the Heineken Cup - can we take all the credit or have the English clubs sub-consciously filed out of this year’s competition already… Shane Horgan, Trevor Hogan and an England Grand Slam winner tell us what we can expect this weekend. Thermo-nuclear war appears to be the only thing that will stop an NFL match – as a couple of snow-addled games on the East Coast showed last week. We go back to the NFL championship game played in wind chill conditions of -40 degrees with US Murph. Plus we have Ken’s thoughts on Connemara vs Kerry in the ‘rugged, unspoilt beauty stakes, some unbelievably bullish rugby predictions, God narrator, and the really famous Christmas movie we’ve never heard of.

Eoin, Ken and Ciaran discuss the Keane Vieira documentary, Man United's training regime and how you can use the calendar for man-management. Tom English explains why Celtic have banned 128 fans after trouble at their match against Motherwell last Friday. And Raphael Honigstein joins us to talk about the condition of Jurgen Klopp's halo.

The festive season is a time for giving… and most of the time, the giving usually includes some pretty lacklustre sports books. So we have taken it upon ourselves to draw up a list of the very best books of this year, and of all time, to guide you through the season. We have enlisted some high quality help – Keith Duggan (author of the Lifelong Season and House of Pain) and Donald McRae, two time William Hill Sports Book of the Year award winner - tell us about what they look for in a great sports book, and what it takes to write one. And the learned Malachy Clerkin of the Irish Times is on hand to help us pick our top 5 books of the year… and the one to avoid like the plague. All this plus why bombast and arrogance makes for a great autobiography, the slow emergence of the inner Dunphy, how Gorgeous George begat Ali who begat Zlatan and why its therefore important to 'always be outrageous'.

Eoin, Ken and Ciaran talk about Luis Suarez's faster-than-gravity goal and the ethics of tweeting private exchanges with Premier League managers. James Corbett joins us to analyse Everton's improvement under Martinez, while Andy Mitten considers whether Manchester United's results are beginning to test the obedience of fans who have been clearly instructed by Alex Ferguson to support the new manager. Ewan MacKenna reports from Belo Horizonte on the tense mood in Brazil ahead of FIFA's World Cup draw.

We ask Shane Horgan and Liam Toland should a proposed extension to Rob Penney's contract be judged on the two Perpignan games. Meanwhile Matt Connor faces his biggest challenge to date away to Northampton, and we debate what changes he has made since the Schmidt era. An entire sport turning a blind eye to cheating is something we’ve sadly grown used to over the last decade or so, but has the multi-million dollar horse-racing industry got the will or the want to change its ways after recent scandals. Plus there’s watching Match of the Day without knowing the scores, Chekov's gun, a very special mile high mascot-based PBESO, apologetic managers and Tony the chimp.

Mark, Ken and Murph discuss The Class of '92, Everton's improvement under Martinez, and whether Andre Villas-Boas was right to turn on his critics last Sunday. Miguel Delaney gives the latest on Villas-Boas's problems behind the scenes and Rene Meulensteen's appointment at Fulham. Sid Lowe on Spain's belated awards season and Mark Gretton of Hull City fan's group City Till We Die explains why it's so important to resist the owner's plans to rebrand the club as "Hull Tigers".

Photographer Billy Stickland is responsible for capturing many of the greatest moments in Irish sport, and he joins us in studio to discuss his career, the story behind the shots and how he gets so many men to take their shirts off. Last weekend Carlow hurling manager John Meyler watched his son David score for Hull, rejoiced in Mount Leinster Rangers' hurling success, and celebrated his wedding anniversary. We ask him to rank the events from 1 to 3. Ireland are the only country in the world's top 20 nations without a men's team competing on the rugby sevens circuit, and we're almost certainly not sending a side to the Rio Olympics. We speak to Alan Quinlan and former sevens international Cian Aherne about why this is the case. All this plus Carlow griping, Rooney McIlroy twitter shame, shin pad celebrations and father son sporting love.

Mark, Ken and Ciaran discuss the burning questions of the day. Is Villas-Boas about to get the sack? What makes Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo such a good partnership? And why is it acceptable to display an image of William Wallace at a Scottish football ground, and "illicit" to display one of Bobby Sands? Martin Lipton and Andy Brassell analyse Villas-Boas' prospects of hanging on to his job. And Alex Massie tries to explain where the hardcore support of Celtic and Rangers fit in to the debate about Scottish independence.

Sochi is the one place in Russia where it doesn't snow, so Vladimir Putin thought it would be perfect for the Winter Games. Andrew Roth of the New York Times joins us from Moscow to talk about what will be the most expensive Olympics in history. Friend of the show and Ireland's greatest ever goalkeeper Shane Curran joins us in studio to discuss the Connacht club final, injury, Rene Higuita, and playing into your 40's. You can tell a lot about an American sports fan by whether he/she prefers Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Brian Murphy explains the difference between stats and trophies. All this plus healing Ireland's pain, a GMAC PBESO, La Cosa Nostra, and the Kanye Rossies remix.

Eoin, Ken and Ciaran discuss a German take on Gaelic football and why it is that so many football managers like to read about tyrants and despots. Tim Vickery has the fascinating story of João Saldanha, the Brazilian journalist who was appointed manager of the national team ahead of the 1970 World Cup and led them to a perfect record in qualifying. And in the week that marks the 60th anniversary of England's 6-3 defeat to Hungary, Jonathan Wilson tries to explain why English football has historically been so immune to foreign influences.

Its a special heartbreak edition of Second Captains this week, as we wade through our nations' tears in search of the most painful moments in history. Gordon Darcy still hasn't recovered from Sunday's game but believes the team can play at that level every week, and believes if New Zealand can be consistently brilliant, then so can Ireland. Eddie O'Sullivan feels its the best performance in our history, Shane Horgan thinks the game will benefit the team, and both men re-live the pain of the Vincent Clerc try in 2007. Paul Kimmage joins us in studio to explain why he thinks Laurent Fignon's loss to Greg Lemond in the 1989 Tour de France is the most cruel defeat he has ever witnessed. All this plus stress dreams, Kearney eyes, weepy little Eoin McDevitt and Murph's top 5 moments of misery.