“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.
Living and working in the US means Smyth is ideally placed to comment on the respective leagues. “It's not been around as long as the MLS but I'd say the standard is higher in the A-League. And there's certainly more enthusiasm for the game. Maybe if we were in a different place in Australia, although but if you look at the Newcastle, the Jets probably played the best football in the A-League and they're not here on grand final day. But I guess there are a few teams that are struggling, which they'll have to address.

“If you look at MLS, the problem they had is that the big teams are struggling. New York has never got to an MLS final. Here you have Sydney in season one, now it's Melbourne, so you've had the two big Aussie cities in the grand final. But you didn't end up with two of the smaller teams in it, which probably mightn't be that beneficial to the game if that had happened. But the way it's worked out [with Victory and Adelaide] it's been perfect.”

And Smyth pays Kevin Muscat the ultimate compliment. “Kevin Muscat for me is one of the toughest players who's ever played the game. I have nothing against toughness. There's five people I wouldn't want to play against. Franco Baresi, Danny Blint, Nobby Styles, Roy Keane and Kevin Muscat. Kosmina is exactly the same. He's abrupt he's abrasive, he rubs people up the wrong way. But he gives as good as he gets.”

The Irishman's advice to the A-League is to bring back the big Aussie stars before they're too old. “The league has to build on the success of the Socceroos at the World Cup. So you have to get Kewell, Viduka, Cahill and the like back here playing. They don't have to be in their prime but it's important they don't come back as old men. And when their footballing days are over it's important they be involved. It's no use Kewell coming back for a few years then going to live on an island and living on his money.

“I think you have to see the influence of these guys in the game over the years. Obviously not all will become managers but whatever money should be used for that. And these guys who've come back, the likes of Muscat have proven themselves back here.

“The Socceroos didn't surprise me after what they did with Uruguay. I believe. They weren't one of those cinderella teams. The Socceroos were actually unlucky against Italy. One kick of the ball... had they not given up that penalty and Italy not scored. Australia were a likeable team. And the very fact they have premier league stars and players from Serie A draws fans to them and there's a fun element of being in the stands with the Socceroos fans like the fans of the Republic of Ireland.”
Smyth – a one-time player for the Shamrocks in the semi-pro leagues in New York - is naturally interested in the Beckham move to LA. He describes the English midfielder as “one of the nicest guys I've ever interviewed... he was even concerned I was getting sunburnt when I interviewed him in Spain.

“The impact he will have will be colossal the first time around. From a marketing point of view it's already massive. In terms of money spent, MLS have done a fantastic job. Will he turn it into a super league? Not at all. One swallow doesn't make a summer and one player doesn't make the league, but what he will do is bring a lot of attention to it.

“It's a double-edged sword. Players in Europe have looked at Beckham and have contacted the coaches but the money isn't there. The $250 million was there for David Beckham only, everybody else is going to be lower scale. And of course some of that figure is about his image rights. LA have given him a percentage more than Real Madrid.”

Smyth is clearly enjoying his ride with ESPN, who he joined in the early 1990s just before the channel got the rights for the US World Cup in 1994 after he'd lived and worked in New York since the 1960s (“I'd done everything, from being a travel agent to an announcer for Gaelic football”).

“I get to meet and see the best players in the world. Beckham, Shevchenko, Gary Neville you name it,” adds Smyth. “I suppose I love life and I realise I have a job that most people would kill for.” Apparently so.