Howard Rodgers has been replaced by Kenny Hassan. If you listened to yesterdays show, it not that big of surprise. The last couple of weeks Steven and Howard have really gotten into it during the show. http://www.worldsoccerdaily.com/
Being a fellow Rangers fan, i like Kenny being on the show, but Howard was a good host to have on. I really do like the shows best when Howard and Kenny host it together.
IMHO Howard was an awful host. Too, too negative. As Steven repeatedly said, if it wasn't ManU related, Howard couldn't care less. And his on-air demeanor proved it. For instance (and it's not just the sour grapes talking, I'm not British and I make no claims to the decades long suffering of born & bred Geordies), he repeatedly takes pot-shots at Newcastle. Sure, I love a little schtick. And the British media sure loves to play up the "loveable loser" angle of the Geordie faithful. But he always has to have his bite. Like Kevin Keegan not ever winning anything. "Great player, horrible manager". His words. And while I'm not exactly genuflecting at the throne of King Kev, Keegan has won a division championship with every team he's coached. 2nd division with NUFC and Man City, 3rd division with Fulham. You can only win the championships placed in front of you. Of course he lost the big one with NUFC, and he paid the price when the pressure drove him out of the game. But he was that way with every new appointment. And almost every new signing. A few he got right (Pizzaro) but more he gets wrong (Santa Cruz) and offers up lame apologies before making the conversation about ManU again. And who exactly do you want in those appointments? van Gaal at Newcastle? We tried him. A manager who had won multiple league titles (maybe not Europe, but he had European aspirations), not to mention the FA Cup and League Cup. Similarly, he was manager who had won F-all since 2000 just like van Gaal. His name was Souness. It ended in tears. So one of the reasons I stopped being a daily listener to WSD has returned to the sidelines. Good. Can't say I won't enjoy a refreshing take on Monday's review of the Premiership. Hopefully Steven doesn't try to repeat the Lawrence the Gooner experiment. Thx, Jay!
I guess I'm not surprised, but very disappointed. I wish Howard could have gotten his act together, he's hilarious when hes on form.
Even though Geber would drive me nuts sometimes, I liked the brotherly relationship that Geber and Steven had. It seems like Steven and Howard never were able to build a good radio relationship. Even as a Manchester United supporter, Howard's attitude got old. With Kenny I like that he brings in input on the SPL, otherwise it would never be mentioned.
What a shame, first Steven ran Nick out of the show, now Howard, it seems that if you don't agree with that guy he kicks you out, the show it's been a witch hunt ever since Howard disagreed with Steven on his love for African players.......I don't think I will be able to stand listening to that Kenny 5 days a week, I guess it has to do with the fact that Kenny is a ********** and most Americans who like football are the same(no offense meat but it's true) and they don't like people that tells it like it is.......
I don't think that Steven ran Geber off the show. The way that they get paid is through advertising and Geber was having a hard time bringing in advertising. Also Geber had an opportunity to do the poker thing and wanted to run with it. Geber is still the president of Soccer Weekly Inc which owns the show.
Yeah I remember Steven mentioning something about sponsors in one of his rants against Nick, but even Nick himself said it in the last week he was there, I will no longer be the full time co-host but I'll still do the odd show here and there, but Steven I guess didn't liked that idea and so he got Kenny as a filler and left Nick out...........
Nick was too busy with poker to do the show -- and more power to him, since that is now his full-time gig. And he is still a partner in the business and sometimes shows up at the studio; I doubt he'd do that if he had been "run off." As for Howard, I liked it when he was on every now and then as a guest host. But the last few weeks I had grown tired of his approach. Which is: Man U can do wrong, literally everything else is rubbish. Everything, every player, every team, every manager, every ref, everything. Except that one tour that runs commercials on their show. So that tour and Man U; any other thing you could name was rubbish. WSD used to be a must-listen for me every day. Lately, it still pops into my iTunes but I don't always listen. Maybe this move will make it more appealing to me.
Thank God he's gone. It was all Man United or else it was rubbish to Howard. Kenny is ten times better for me.
WTF... I'm a Man United fan, and I don't agree with most of the stuff Howard says. I will miss him a lot because he is a good radio host. I found Howard's comment over-the-top but hilarious. I think he just says those things intentionally to piss people off and be controversial. It's entertaining to me. I don't enjoy Kenny that much. He just agrees with the Steven most of the time and never say anything interesting. He seems like just a sidekick to whoever who he is hosting with... Anyhow, this is a bit of a surprise, and I will miss Howard's negativity.
Posted this on the WSD board, but thought I'd throw it here as well... I really didn't mind Howard in general and as mentioned before when he was on his game he could be both well-researched and hilarious with his rants. However, the main problem with Howard was whenever he didn't have a valid point to make in a conversation about a non-ManU manager, player or team, he resorted to his "they've never won anything" schtik. Dude...there are not that many trophies to be won out there, and if you are an above average player for a team who can't spend with the Big 4, the best you're ever going to "win" is maybe a UEFA Cup slot. For Howard, if you're a fan of a Bolton or a Wigan or a Fulham you may as well call it a season in September. (Yet he'd be the first to remind you that their stadiums were half-empty...but Howard, I thought no one should support them if they can't "win" anything?) On the national team front, his recent rhetoric was "how many African sides have made the last four of the World Cup" - wtf kind of argument is that? Up until 1990 I believe Africa only was give one slot (and Cameroon shocked the world), in the 4 Cups since then they regularly have taken knock-out stage places away from countries with 100x more funding than they have. I imagine Howard was at the front of the line in the Glazer-hatred during the takeover; but now that it just so may be that the Glazer's medium-term plan has worked out for the club, they can continue to "win" (read: outspend everyone) for their spoiled fans. Liked him at first, but looking forward to Kenny full-time (someone who actually engages callers).
Sometimes it was funny, but it had recently deteriorated to the point that his "rubbish" act had become permanent. It got to the point where he refused to discuss anything not related to Manchester United; he would simply dismiss all other sides and all other players as "rubbish." It's a talk show, and they need to generate discussion, but Howard refused if it wasn't related to ManU. A lot of times you would hear Steven pose a question to Howard, which Howard would simply dismiss immediately, and then Steven would be like "well, okay." Until recently Steven would just laugh it off, but it seems to have finally driven him over the edge. Another problem was Howard's anti-MLS position, and his refusal to discuss it. I know Steven takes a beating on here for his criticism of MLS, but at least he will discuss it. Steven would try to discuss MLS, and again Howard would simply dismiss it as rubbish. I think they were probably at risk of losing listeners to a certain MLS-friendly soccer podcast.
Agreed. It seems he changed recently. In the beginning, he crazy rants are occasional. In the last month or so, he does go a bit crazy on Shearer, African teams, and even the Tottenham/united match. I always took it as an "act" from him but his removal suggests otherwise...
the rep-- par-- tah I found Geber and Steve quite amusing sometimes... and they had lively discussions about more than just English soccer. Geber left and I was hoping he could find a non-accented or British Ex-pat who was knowledgable about the world soccer game. (not just english and european soccer) That didnt happen. Steven made Howard a fulltime co-host which I found interesting cause I found his negativity interesting, but his lack of soccer knowledge outside of the isles quite disappointing. I think the Fox Football Fone-in show was the begining of the end for Howard as they promoted Nick Webster to co-host and not Howard. Which was probably a visual thing and must mean Howard is one hell of a shite to look at if baldy Nick Webster beats you outta a TV spot. I would like Nick Webster over Kenny if he were available. Kenny is to much of a "yes" man and has weird zippy nervous vocal ticks... everytime he says "Nicccce...." kills me. The silly words/sounds he makes in dead air gaps while steven is taking a breathe is absolutely annoying. It's sad that Americans cant have a voice on a soccer related show. Can Steven at least try to get rid of his accent while on the show to give us a just a hint of representation.
Re: the rep-- par-- tah I have never heard Nick Webster make an intellegent point that he didn't already have written down, or that didn't sound like it was ripped from ESPNSoccernet. I just don't think the guy can think on his feet enough to be effective in a live show setting.
It seems that my point about Howard's anti-MLS position was a key factor. On today's show, Steven said that the show is a business first and foremost, and the business was at risk of suffering. He then went on to say that the direction the business is going in (presumably the emergence of MLS), he can't have someone on the show who is anti-American and anti-American sports.
I think it was the right thing for Steven to let Howard go. I listen to the show every day for the whole 2 hours, and Howard's negativity was getting a bit much. As someone else said; the chemistry was just not there. I found myself losing interest in the show, and it seemd that Howard had no interest in anything outside of Man U. He was a great fill-in guy, but I gave him geat reviews when he first became a full-time host, but as the weeks went on it really started to become obvious it wan't working. Kenny, I think, makes the Tuesday show interesting, but full time? We'll have to see. I'd like to see him full time as a try-out and if there is good chemistry, then keep him on, but it not keep him on part-time. Simon T
Re: the rep-- par-- tah FFF is owned and operated by FSC, not Steven Cohen or WSD. So it was FSC who decided to put FSC employee Nick Webster ahead of Howard Rodgers or anyone else. It's also worth noting that Howard has a job outside of soccer, so that may have had an influence.
I actually liked Howard a lot, in fact, he was my favorite. Yes of course he was negative, but he was funny at the same time. I thought it was great to have a positive personality and a negative one on air. I was upset with Steven on Monday. Howard said Tottenham played well, but Steven kept talking about Howard's Man United bias. In the end, I think both of them went too far. I will definitely miss Howard. On the other side, I think Kenny will do well. I love it when he talks about the SPL and when he makes some of his trademark phrases. "GARBAGE", and "Dimitar, Dimatar, BERBATOV!"
Well, I for one liked Howard and will miss his negative British ways. Everyone was rubbish. When Howard was on, he was hysterically funny. I loved his rants about Alan Shearer and Dimitar Berbatov (both rubbish). It was really good at first, but it got a bit old. He did have have a really negative attitude towards MLS, which was OK with me. People are allowed to have opinions, but perhaps it was bad for business. He said that this past season for MLS had been a wash. Which I find silly because it was by far the best season ever (DP's, introduction of Toronto FC, Superliga). Oh well. I'll miss the feisty bastard. Good luck to him.
I don't think anyone can really fault Howard for having a certain opinion, and I don't think having a particular opinion got him fired; rather, it was his refusal to even entertain a conversation on any topic on which he had a negative opinion, which was nearly everything other than ManU. Steven has voiced his criticisms of MLS regularly, but he at least discusses his opinions and tries to rationalize them, whereas Howard would just dismiss it as rubbish and seemingly intentionally ignore the league. I know it was funny when Howard would go on one of his rants, but I mean it is a "talk" show; they can't have a host that refuses to discuss relevant topics. It was cheap radio shtick, and he simply took it too far.
That's rich considering Steven's claim to fame on FFF is that he's positioned himself as the guy who's telling truth to power by slating the MLS at every opportunity. Looks like he's going to change his tune in the name of filthy lucre.
As I said before, Steven has been very critical of MLS in the past, BUT AT LEAST HE'S WILLING TO DISCUSS IT.
I caught that, but trying to have a discussion with him about anything is pointless. He doesn't "discuss", unless it seems there is money involved. More power to him. I will enjoy watching him change his opinion to increase his ad revenue.