On Monday of this week the hearts of thousands of sports fans across the nation broke a little, with the news that the team behind award-winning sports radio show ‘Off The Ball’ were leaving their Newstalk post with immediate effect. 

Using the Twitter handle @The2ndCaptains, the men behind the immensely popular show confirmed speculation yesterday that the move came after failed attempts by the team to secure an earlier time in the station’s schedule. 

The statement in full reads:

Hey everyone, Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Mark Horgan, Simon Hick and Ciaran Murphy here. Sorry we couldn’t make the show last night.

Over the last 18 months we have been in discussions with Newstalk about ways to develop our programme. Unfortunately there are fundamental differences of opinion between management and ourselves about the show’s future potential and its ability to grow an audience at an earlier time.

We’re gutted to leave behind something we love but after eight years we feel it’s vital that our product continues to evolve and improve.

We would like to sincerely thank Newstalk for giving us a chance to put the show together.

We won’t have the opportunity to say goodbye on air, so thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years and over the past 24 hours - particularly our listeners, who are the best in the country.

The five of us are determined to be back on air together as soon as possible.

The Twitter account has attracted over a thousand followers already this afternoon, but as yet the link to the above statement has been the only tweet.