Thanks Ian, wasn't sure for certain, but even if it wasn't still a shameful start to the season by all concerned, and patronising stick together garbage from Steve Broomhead does nothing to dampen my anger.
Action is needed sooner or later And Smith needs to stop looking for scapegoats and look in the mirror and the players in the eye to see if they've given up on him
Exactly. This "stick together" stuff doesn't wash with me. Broomhead, Smith, Agar, Draper, Moran, Fitzpatrick are merely custodians of the club, just as Cullen, Hoyle, Johnson, Higham, Ratcliffe and DVDV were before them. There was a Wire before them, and will be afterwards. It is that entity that I "stick with" I follow the club, and what it represents to the town. If I think there are better custodians I will say so.
So Smith can go now for me. I only need one reason to make my mind up but when you consider the failings in recruitment, succession planning, performances, game day strategy and player selection it's clear his time is up - even if we overlook the fact we haven't won anything since 2012.
No give me a much derided Wane any day of the week with his 4/4 GF appearances, 2 GF wins, CC win/double and WCC in the same time we have won nowt.
I rejoined the forum, specifically with one point in mind. With Karl Fitzpatrick installed as the new CEO, (someone who used to work under Tony Smith), it would be very unlikely he would dismiss Smith unless it was a very sustained crisis. Even then, he would probably give him the opportunity to resign.
It would be quite the decision to make for someone new to the role. Even then, it is suggested the power of the business is in the directors, and not Karl. When it comes to Simon & Stuart et all, they certainly seem to be pally with the head coach.
Here's looking at you kid. Will you sack your former boss?
Suggest pressure now needs to be put on the board to make the call whether that be at the next game or before through social media (e.g Twitter). As has been highlighted too many pals in the boardroom, back room and coaching department.
I've not contributed to these pages for a long while, but witnessing the terrible start to the season as persuaded me to rid myself of a few of my thoughts and opinions.
Firstly, and most importantly, how has it come to this??.... Played 6 Lost 6, and quite deservedly with our performances, bottom of the league.
What is blindingly obvious is that we are simply a mediocre team - we lack leaders, we lack quality, we lack anything resembling any sort of shape or plan on the pitch.
Our backline is absolutely shocking - Ratchford is the only one who looks upto the standard needed. The likes of Russell and Evans are not good enough, Gidley and Brown are looking horribly aged...Gidley especially looks like a man whose body cant do what his head his instructing it....youngsters like Patton, Johnson and King are like lambs to the slaughters having to start a career playing with such substandard senior players.
The forwards (apart from Hill), while trying hard enough , lack any sort of fear factor... Sims is a waste of time. His impact, whether from the start or off the bench, is zero....Cooper has been massively disappointing, his presumed improvement from his spell in Oz has been non existent and Crosby is just a chugger who lacks quality, Westwood, like Gidley and Brown earlier, just looks past it... Clark and Westerman, while showing effort and glimpses of half decent form, don't appear to have the ability to lead or desire to stand up when things begin to go wrong.
This rant could probably go on and on, but ultimately the buck as to stop with the people who have assembled and coach this squad.... Smith and Agar don't appear to be able to send out a side that can compete. That is simply not good enough... Personally, I think Agar has to go first and Smith given the chance to find a coach who can actually do the job of preparing a side both mentally and physically, because what is becoming obvious is that the team looks beaten before they even kick off.
Hopefully, things can turn around soon... Unfortunately, I cant see where. Whatever Smith says in his interviews, this isn't just a confidence thing, this is a mediocre side, with a mediocre coach in Agar, simply finding its level.
We've talked of players playing to get rid of Smith...maybe we've overlooked the real elephant in the room....maybe they're playing to get rid of Agar alone. It's no coincidence that since he started running the 1st team, the flair and confident, exciting play has vapourised.
The biggest problem, apart from being 0-6 and bottom of the league is that the performances are getting WORSE.
I couldn't take one single positive from the saints game.
Next 2 game are Hull and Leeds. Hard to see anything but 0-8.. I'm not even sure where we go from here. The next man in had a massive job on his hands.