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Listened to the first 20ish minutes got bored of generic Cheltenham waffle and that's not knocking Slim as the others were over talking him yet saying nothing imo. Perhaps it got better later on so cant judge the whole thing.
 
Danny said:
Listened to the first 20ish minutes got bored of generic Cheltenham waffle and that's not knocking Slim as the others were over talking him yet saying nothing imo. Perhaps it got better later on so cant judge the whole thing.
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I must have logged in and out literally half a dozen times, but I got bored after a minute or so every time and went and did something else for a bit.

But maybe that's me, I have the attention span of a special needs gerbil at the best of times and I like racing and betting for the racing and betting and not for the people in the game - I felt like I was trapped in a pub with racing and betting pub bores when I don't drink, I don't like pubs and I don't like people.

On the rare occasions I tune in to stuff, I honestly do try to listen to racing and betting social media with an open mind - maybe there are people out there with contemporary angles that can teach me something new - but that actually happening is about as frequent as sightings of Halley's Comet (or Walsworth passing a rabbit warren without getting peckish) and the time investment to knowledge gained ratio just isn't worth it - it's a sub-0.1% ROI.

None of this is a criticism of Slim, who I enormously enjoy reading in this sphere and who tbh I find more attention-grabbing (as opposed to attention-seeking, so in a good way) and informative in this sphere.

Slim stood out for me when he was on Barstewards (a show so repetitive, and myopically focussed on the game viewed through a narrow middle-aged prism, I can't listen to it any more) as he was direct and edgy in a way they aren't, but Slim was less so here from what admittedly little I heard.

If Slim got his own Spaces back and it was spent solely discussing racing and betting I'd listen - the only achilles heel for me is this social media obsession with dissing others instead of just doing your own thing, the bitching offers nothing to me.

But thousands tuned in, and many clearly love watching and listening to the social media feuding, so I am obviously atypical and my views don't reflect what the market wants.
 
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If you're hosting, you dictate what's spoken about. I was as bored as anyone for the first 40 minutes. If lads want to roar and shout about Anzadam being the horse to take out of the Fighting Fifth, or AKBets crying about Casino, then that's on them, not me. When you're hosting you ask pointed questions; you don't make monologues. That way you give the conversation a chance to go somewhere interesting.
 
Tbh that's why i prefer to hear from people like yourself in a Forum/blog/your substack format. That way you're actually saying something from your core rather than trying to respond to things that really you don't give two hoots about. There might not be the audience for the truth and nitty gritty of real world betting as opposed to the constant chatter of all things leading to Cheltenham but that's no reflection of the quailty of your content.

As soon as they started feeding the beast they were slaying i give it the red buzzer treatment. Bemoaning everything being about Cheltenham whilst simultaneously talking whether a horse is going for the Arkle or the Browns is all too common amongst these type of things. On one hand they dont like it but then are too scared to talk about anything different for fear of losing a main stream audience. As said not directly saying that about last nights one as its unfair to do that when i only listened to a small part of it I'm talking in general.

As much as I take the piss and try and pour a bit of water on that inferno of an ego you carry around you have a rare quality of being able to say a lot in very few words. Even down to something like your 100 rules for betting there are some real golden nuggets in there which even for an experienced punter like me made me sit up and have a rethink. Short, sharp, simple but effective.

How you market that going forward is beyond me but in that sort of scenario you can't really give the right/interesting answers when other people are leading with completely the wrong/boring questions.
 
We live in a world where, on the one hand, we're told we need to like ourselves and be confident yet, in the next contradictory breath, sociopathically-arrogant narcissists are virtually persecuted.

I feel Slim's pain every day of my life.
 
pawras said:
I listened to bits, too long and rambling unless it was just meant to be just blokes in the pub
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If it's not just blokes in the pub, I would expect the host to have an agenda of talking points to cover with an approx time for each, not allowing one topic to overrun too much or any one person to dominate the discussion
 
pawras said:
If it's not just blokes in the pub, I would expect the host to have an agenda of talking points to cover with an approx time for each, not allowing one topic to overrun too much or any one person to dominate the discussion
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When the host is two people with one mic who both like talking, you're in trouble.
 
I 100% agree with Dannys 9.33 post. There are a thousand and one people/pundits/"experts":lolup:/podcasters talking about Cheltenham and it is as boring as f**k !!!!! The time to start thinking about Cheltenham festival bets, for me, is on the Sunday before the first day when the first of the decs come out. There are so many of these ridiculous "Road To Cheltenham" type podcasts out there its like f**king spaghetti junction.
In my opinion, you would be far better off doing your own thing Slim. I watched the four episodes of the Simon Nott interviews again this morning and looking at racing/media/bookmakers etc from a different angle from everyone else is what you do and is what is entertaining. I enjoyed them apart from the fact that Nott is not a very good interviewer. I think you are very much like me in that we have both done the trading rooms and know what goes on and who is who in the betting world and how things work far more than your average punter in the street. We both know that there are many tales we probably couldnt tell for varying reasons but the ones we could would prove interesting and different. And thats what a lot of people on here and punters wherever they are want ! Something different ! Not the same old boring "I fancy this for the Supreme, what do you fancy ? etc etc etc etc etc etc . :sleep:
 
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The reasons why I would do an absolutely banging interview with Slim....

1 I'm actually an ex-professional broadcast journalist and, while you don't need that background, there are certain principles that need to be adhered to (even the lighthearted podcast stuff I was associated with had, at my insistence, an editorial meeting behind the scenes beforehand to establish structure, though you wouldn't know it once on air).

2 Either the show is about the person you're interviewing or it isn't - people tune in to hear from the star of the show, not the interviewer.

3 I'd know the right questions to ask because a) I know the game - sorry but FACT - and b) I'd go through what questions to ask by discussing it with Slim beforehand.

Gloves off, hand on heart, most of these podcast spaces things are IMO populated with amateur tools with no idea how to engage and retain an audience or get the best out of who they are working with.

Slim stands out, but he needs the right environment and people around him in order to shine.

Sadly, I'm not available - it's not a question of money (I don't need money) I just cba.

But Slim deserves to work with people who can be arsed and know what they're doing - there was precious little of that commodity in town last night.
 
With all the racing on between now and March, personally I'm not interested in hearing about Cheltenham until the back end of Feb

Even over the next few days you have these on, which I'm sure provide plenty scope for interesting discussion, so why the fk talk about races in March 2026?

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Ian_Davies said:
The reasons why I would do an absolutely banging interview with Slim....

1 I'm actually an ex-professional broadcast journalist and, while you don't need that background, there are certain principles that need to be adhered to (even the lighthearted podcast stuff I was associated with had, at my insistence, an editorial meeting behind the scenes beforehand to establish structure, though you wouldn't know it once on air).

2 Either the show is about the person you're interviewing or it isn't - people tune in to hear from the star of the show, not the interviewer.

3 I'd know the right questions to ask because a) I know the game - sorry but FACT - and b) I'd go through what questions to ask by discussing it with Slim beforehand.

Gloves off, hand on heart, most of these podcast spaces things are IMO populated with amateur tools with no idea how to engage and retain an audience or get the best out of who they are working with.

Slim stands out, but he needs the right environment and people around him in order to shine.

Sadly, I'm not available - it's not a question of money (I don't need money) I just cba.

But Slim deserves to work with people who can be arsed and know what they're doing - there was precious little of that commodity in town last night.
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And i would listen to you if you did one mate. And the simple reason is - i/we would be hearing something different. And more to the point, if you did a few of them, it would no doubt be different every time.
Compare that to the oh so boring gravy train riders that hog the screens these days. Even though i have the tv on mute, and have done for many years now, it still doesnt stop my racing mates pinging me with "Did you hear what that daft twat just said" ? or "That bloke just hasnt got a clue what he is talking about" ! etc etc etc etc etc .
For instance, i have no doubt that Fitzy will mention the seven fences in a row down the Sandown back straight this weekend. He did it every meeting when i used to have the sound on and i get feedback that he still does it every meeting now. My point is, its the same old shit out of them time and time again. They are a turn off, they are like a stuck record, they are just oh so boring.
 
Quixall Crossett said:
And i would listen to you if you did one mate. And the simple reason is - i/we would be hearing something different. And more to the point, if you did a few of them, it would no doubt be different every time.
Compare that to the oh so boring gravy train riders that hog the screens these days. Even though i have the tv on mute, and have done for many years now, it still doesnt stop my racing mates pinging me with "Did you hear what that daft twat just said" ? or "That bloke just hasnt got a clue what he is talking about" ! etc etc etc etc etc .
For instance, i have no doubt that Fitzy will mention the seven fences in a row down the Sandown back straight this weekend. He did it every meeting when i used to have the sound on and i get feedback that he still does it every meeting now. My point is, its the same old shit out of them time and time again. They are a turn off, they are like a stuck record, they are just oh so boring.
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That's very kind and I agree, it's important to keep it fresh, evolving and, actually not overlong.

One thing the person I did a few with definitely brought to the table (apart from her significant social media charisma) is she never wanted any broadcast to ever exceed 30 minutes in length and I think she was spot on.

Many people, especially casual racing fans, have a limited attention span and a strict time limit imposed healthy self discipline constraints on how much time to devote to the items on the agenda and not to drone on.

Two HOURS ffs of four blokes (only one I actually wanted to hear from) droning on and talking over each other (another schoolboy error)...I was like "Has anyone seen my will to live? I'm sure I had it when I first tuned in."

Needs to be short and sweet, ever changing, direct, knows what it wants to say and how to say it and DIFFERENT - out of left field, as they say.
 

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