“We take these security precautions with any of our on-air staff,” says ESPN international producer Steven M. Palese. “Tommy's no different, we take any threats to his life seriously.” Palese is referring to one particular Internet post the week before Smyth's visit to Melbourne to cover the A-League grand final. In it, a blogger suggested he or she would pay “good money for someone to put a bullet in his [Smyth's] head”. ESPN reacted swiftly.

The US sports channel immediately launched a major security operation around Smyth who was in Melbourne for three days. A battery of security guards was placed on Tommy Watch. The five-star hotel was briefed on “Operation Onion Bag” while Smyth was checked in under a false name.

FourFourTwo online met Smyth at his hotel and began by asking him how he feels about irritating some people so much, they claim to want him knocked off. “It's a shock to me, alright,” says the 61-year-old who lives in Queens, New York but hails from Dundalk. “The guy was probably just blowing off some steam. I don't take it too seriously but the company [ESPN] does. But if you read those...” he trails off.

“ESPN just don't want my wife to be a multi-millionaire when I'm shot and she sues them!” adds Smyth with a laugh. “There's one blog from New Zealand called 'Tommy Smyth's oral diarrohea and general cock ups'. It's just a bunch of guys wanting to get me fired. You see, my segment 'The Auld Onion Bag' came about because we had such a strong response from people about me.”

The Auld Onion Bag is Smyth's regular opinion piece. It's a couple of minutes of TV that regularly mystifies, puzzles and pisses off many football fans. Smyth also appears on ESPN's international magazine show Soccernet Press Pass. And like a David Brent catchphrase, his “Tommy Smit wit a Y” signature sign-off follows Smyth around like a bad smell. He's unapologetic.

“Publicity?” asks Smyth. “There's no bad publicity. This sport is based on a difference of opinion. Unfortunately, soccer fans tend to take the game very personally and they see everything. If they have a particular player and even if he's playing bad, most of them will never recognise that, but as soon as I point that out, I become the bad guy because I point out he's playing bad. It's almost like the rest of the world wouldn't know he's playing bad if Tommy didn't point it out.”

Not that US sports channel seems too concerned. They recognise that Smyth's folksy, faux polemic take on modern football and the fact that it riles many football fans is good for ratings. “It's the perfect thing for our studio show ESPN Soccernet Press Pass,” says Palese. “In that environment you either love him or hate him. Either way, he's getting a reaction out of you which is exactly what you're looking for from a TV perspective: somebody who elicits a strong response and he definitely does that.”

Some of the blogs that rip into Smyth include: “What a fecking complete gobshite. He almost makes me ashamed to be Irish. How to Jaysus does the Bollix keep his job. It just goes to show how thick the Yanks are.” Another speculates, “I am sure he is just some random bloke that ESPN have come up with in the tea room.”

“We get a tonne of emails,” cuts in Tommy in his broad Irish lilt. “And the first email will read 'Tommy, why do you hate Manchester United?' and the next one 'Why do you love Arsenal Tommy?' and the next 'Why do you hate Liverpool?' Nobody can quite figure it out... and it's always why this, and why that. So it's great to keep them confused,” he adds with yet another laugh.

“I argue with my wife the same as I argue with Janusz and Derek [his fellow panelists on ESPN Soccernet Press Pass] about anything. And she's from Cork so she can argue herself.”

There's no argument about the A-League's rise to prominence (the very fact ESPN covered the game to an international audience proof of its rise in stature). Smyth has been impressed. “The building up with the signs on the cars and in the shop windows with 'Go Victory'. Everybody's talking it about. I think this has snuck up on you guys in Australia and caught a lot of people by surprise. There's an excuse for me being caught by surprise.

“From what I've seen of it and it's all relative, I think the standard's relatively high. I mean you have Muscat, Thompson, Aloisi and Nathan Burns who probably will be a very good player. And I think the Victory made the right choice in bringing in Muscat to keep things together on the park and took back Thompson who is huge and Brebner coming in and this kid Allsopp, the goal he scored against Adelaide in the play off was absolutely incredible. They've built the backbone of the team and spruced it up and I think the coach has done a fantastic job.