The terrible effect of drugs. And Maradonna looks like he might be on something too...

We talk to The Football Ramble's Luke Moore about the the show's success, Pompey's bittersweet season and not being a friend of the stars...

Regular readers of ToePoke have probably deduced that football pundits are not exactly on our list of 'people we like'. They tend to be on our list of 'people we think are annoying buffoons, whose bland, cliched views on football offer absolutely no insight into the game we love.' They also dress badly and are not funny. So thank the good Lord for The Football Ramble. They are funny, knowledgeable and for anyone who has not heard their weekly podcast - just think of the exact opposite of Jamie Redknapp. Ok, they might not dress that well but hey, you can't have it all.

So Luke, hows tricks? From what we have been hearing, your podcast is doing not too shabbily. You guys could soon be bigger than Jesus, or at least Bono?

- Yeah, things are going well indeed. The show seems to be striking a chord with a lot of people out there, which is great. The main thing is that we are enjoying what we do and so are the listeners.

They certainly seem to be enjoying it, there are bloody thousands of them downloading the show every week. So I presume you guys are loaded now that you are famous sports media stars?

 - Ha Ha, I wish! Yeah, it's great that we get so many people listening to the show and it does feel a bit strange at times, considering how small the show was to start with. But when I happen across my bank balance, I realise that the only real difference is that more people listen to our show, nothing's changed financially! But the most important thing for us is that it's still just us doing what we do.

Don't worry about it mate, it will only be a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling. We can see it now, Ramble Force: The Movie. Considering how successful the show is these days, you must be hob-knobbing with other sports journalists and pundits?

 - Actually not, if anything I think we piss off a lot of sports journalists. There is a bit of a backlash in the media these days against things like amateur blogs and podcasts, a lot of journalists think that the general public's opinions are not as valid because they are not 'proper journalists'. Doesn't really bother me though, I can count on one hand the number of football journalists I actually respect.

Couldn't agree with you more mate, some journalists probably think our blog is shit, can you believe the cheeky bastards! So we shouldn't expect The Ramble to be hanging out with the tabloid hacks anytime soon?

- No, can't see it. The thing is, a lot of these journalists get so close to the players that it sometimes compromises the stories they are able to write. Our whole show is based on the premise that we are detached from all the players and journalists, so we are able to say exactly what we want. We wouldn't want that to change, otherwise the show wouldn't be how we want it to be.

Sticking to your morals, that's highly admirable. Not easy these days. So even if someone offered you guys millions to present a show on BBC or ITV, you would tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine?

 - I'm not saying that. We would maybe take the money, we would insane not to, but so long as they just let us be ourselves. I think we would find it difficult to change our style too much. Obviously we want the show to get as big as it can possibly be but we sort of think that we can do that on our own in a lot of ways. We are about to launch a new website and we are doing some extra stuff for 442 magazine but all of these things are on our own terms, which is an ideal situation for us.

Control is indeed power, excellent stuff.  So, looking forward to the World Cup then I presume? You guys doing anything special on the show for the tournament?

 - We have a few things up our sleeve. We will be doing the show twice a week during the competition, there is a little exclusive for you!

Great, finally ToePoke gets to break a story! We tried it once before but apparently everyone already knew that El Haj Diouf is a twat. So, things are going great guns with the show but as a Portsmouth fan, this must have been a bittersweet season for you. What's your overall feeling Luke, happy or sad?

 - Oh yeah sad, definitely sad. Not so much about being relegated, that's just part of football,  but more so with the way the club has been run, it's a real shame for all Pompey fans that the club they love has been run so terribly. In that respect it's been a season to forget but there have been some high points obviously. Beating Southampton in the FA Cup and getting to the final is a real bonus, and personally I have had some great days supporting the team this season.

That's the spirit, chin up Luke, it could be worse, you could be a Kilmarnock fan. We've heard that is a truly miserable form of existence. One other thing we have also heard on the grapevine is that The Ramble are pretty tasty on the field of dreams. According to our research, no team comprising of listeners has ever beaten you. Fancy a game against ToePoke FC? We must warn you, we are, to use the official UEFA jargon, totally shit-hot!

 - Haha, no problem mate, bring it on. Anytime.

Oh Ramble Force, it's on. It's on like Donkey Kong....

Download The Football Ramble podcast weekly on i-Tunes or visit www.footballramble.com