Vaunted football journalist Mike Sheahan has issued a grave warning for the hosts of the revamped Footy Show, likening the show to the doomed passenger liner of 1912.
After debuting to 193,000 punters last week, the much-hyped program’s viewership plummeted to half of that figure for its second installation, a record ratings low.
The alarming figures have led the Open Mike host to forewarn hosts Anthony Lehmann, Neroli Meadows, Dylan Alcott and Brendan Fevola that they have “jumped on the Titanic”.
“I can say, without wanting to sound like a smarty pants, the two things that Channel 9 has done wrong,” Sheahan told SEN.
“The Footy Show, it died. This is a new show.
“If you were going to have the Footy Show in any incarnation at all, you should have put it on at a different time.
“The Front Bar has taken off. It is sort of like people have just jumped on the Titanic in terms of the Footy Show.
Sheahan doesn’t believe the show can survive long-term without the personalities that made it an original success.
“No one polarises opinion more than Sammy Newman. Lot’s of people love his style,” he said.
“He’s gone, Garry’s gone, James Brayshaw is gone.
“That’s why it should never have been called the Footy Show.”
