Perhaps it's an indictment of the kind of football that we are seeing on the pitch but there's no doubt that today's big news ahead of the crunch clash with Scotland on Saturday is the absence of one man. John Giles will not be taking his place in the RTÉ studio and the reaction has been rather intense.
Given the range of emotion that Dunphy, Giles and Brady are able to provoke, it's understandable that they've become integral to how we watch football on RTÉ and a departure from that for Ireland's biggest game of the campaign is certainly noteworthy.
However, RTÉ just want us all to calm down about it. In a statement released to the media, the state broadcaster say that reports of Giles demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Contrary to reports in this morning's press John Giles has not been dropped as an RTÉ Soccer panellist. John will not be on the panel for Saturday's coverage of Ireland's Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland but this is quite normal as the panel changes regularly for editorial, scheduling and availability reasons.
This Saturday, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady and Richie Sadlier will be on the panel with Darragh Maloney presenting.
In a further clarification, a spokesperson for RTÉ has explained that Giles' absence is nothing to shout from the rooftops about.
Of the five games already played in the Euro 2016 qualifiers John has been on the panel for three of them so for John not to be on the panel this Saturday is not unusual.
Each panel so far has a different make-up and that is perfectly normal in any sport we cover.
So that's that then, calm down everyone.
