Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:06 am  

easyWire wrote:

Anyways, Smith was good for us we all appreciate what he's done but it's hard to argue against the fact his time here was at an end.

Let's stop all the bickering and look forward to hopefully a fresh start with a new coach and a better 2018 building towards challenging again in 2019 with a new squad.

Finally a sensible and realistic post on this forum. Good man

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:42 am  

Wires71 wrote:

Mmmm personally I'd give that accolade to Cecil Mountford.

League Champions 1953–54 and 1954–55.
Lancashire League 1953-54, 1954-55, 1955-56
Challenge Cup 1953-54,

As a Hull FC supporter I have followed your fortunes as my second favourite rugby league team since I first saw you play Hull back in 1948 when we were a really average team team and your team had Brian Bevan, Harry Bath, Gerry Helme and Roy Francis among others. Went to my first Cup Final at Wembley in 1950 and you won that.
Roy Francis came to play for us and coach in 1948 and we also had great success in the 50's being Champions in 1955/56 and 57/58(runners -up in 56/57).
So a great decade to be a "dual" supporter especially as Hull reached 3 Yorkshire Cup Finals, 2 Wembley finals and won the European Championship.

Always wished for the 2 clubs to be involved in a Championship final but at least we did play a Wembley final to which I came from Aus to attend.

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:57 am  

Jack Steel wrote:

It is true that Cec Mountford won more trophies than any other Warrington coach but that doesn't make him our most successful coach. The main difference between him and Tony Smith is that Mountford inherited (from Chris Brockbank) a team which was already highly successful and won all of the trophies listed here with essentially the same team that he inherited. Tony Smith inherited a mediocre mid-table team and briefly made them into world-beaters. When Mountford left, the team was ruined and didn't win anything else for years.
Personally I think Chris Brockbank was our most-successful coach but I am probably biased because he was the coach when I first started supporting them

I agree word for word

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:16 pm  

Very surprised that the players found out through social media, at the same time as the rest of us!

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:26 pm  

Freddie Miller. wrote:

As a Hull FC supporter I have followed your fortunes as my second favourite rugby league team since I first saw you play Hull back in 1948 when we were a really average team team and your team had Brian Bevan, Harry Bath, Gerry Helme and Roy Francis among others. Went to my first Cup Final at Wembley in 1950 and you won that.
Roy Francis came to play for us and coach in 1948 and we also had great success in the 50's being Champions in 1955/56 and 57/58(runners -up in 56/57).
So a great decade to be a "dual" supporter especially as Hull reached 3 Yorkshire Cup Finals, 2 Wembley finals and won the European Championship.

Always wished for the 2 clubs to be involved in a Championship final but at least we did play a Wembley final to which I came from Aus to attend.

Wonderful post that. I hope you went Odsal in 54.

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Thu Sep 14, 2017 11:00 pm  

Jack Steel wrote:

It is true that Cec Mountford won more trophies than any other Warrington coach but that doesn't make him our most successful coach. The main difference between him and Tony Smith is that Mountford inherited (from Chris Brockbank) a team which was already highly successful and won all of the trophies listed here with essentially the same team that he inherited. Tony Smith inherited a mediocre mid-table team and briefly made them into world-beaters. When Mountford left, the team was ruined and didn't win anything else for years.
Personally I think Chris Brockbank was our most-successful coach but I am probably biased because he was the coach when I first started supporting them

Great post and that is some impressive long term Wire watching I think when I use the words most successful (not best) I align that with trophies won.

Anyhow, just for the purposes of debate, don't you think Smith inherited an excellent squad, albeit misfiring? His successor won't have that luxury that's for sure.

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Fri Sep 15, 2017 1:22 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

Wonderful post that. I hope you went Odsal in 54.

Cheers. Yes I was at Odsal for the Wembley replay and unlike many others in that massive crowd had a view of the whole match.

After my first Wembley match as a 12 year old in 1950 I went to every final until I left England in 1966. Then after reaching Aus in 1968 I have been to all NRL finals since. Was at the 1999 final when the world attendance record for a rugby league game was set at 108,000 in Sydney.

The attendance at Odsal was given as 102,500 but in my opinion there was a bigger crowd at Odsal than at the Sydney Olympic Stadium.

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Fri Sep 15, 2017 1:37 pm  

Freddie Miller. wrote:

Cheers. Yes I was at Odsal for the Wembley replay and unlike many others in that massive crowd had a view of the whole match.

After my first Wembley match as a 12 year old in 1950 I went to every final until I left England in 1966. Then after reaching Aus in 1968 I have been to all NRL finals since. Was at the 1999 final when the world attendance record for a rugby league game was set at 108,000 in Sydney.

The attendance at Odsal was given as 102,500 but in my opinion there was a bigger crowd at Odsal than at the Sydney Olympic Stadium.

Despite 2 mammoth crowds, there's a good chance you might be unique for being at both?! Certainly a claim to fame

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:20 pm  

Freddie Miller. wrote:

As a Hull FC supporter I have followed your fortunes as my second favourite rugby league team since I first saw you play Hull back in 1948 when we were a really average team team and your team had Brian Bevan, Harry Bath, Gerry Helme and Roy Francis among others. Went to my first Cup Final at Wembley in 1950 and you won that.
Roy Francis came to play for us and coach in 1948 and we also had great success in the 50's being Champions in 1955/56 and 57/58(runners -up in 56/57).
So a great decade to be a "dual" supporter especially as Hull reached 3 Yorkshire Cup Finals, 2 Wembley finals and won the European Championship.

Always wished for the 2 clubs to be involved in a Championship final but at least we did play a Wembley final to which I came from Aus to attend.

Top man!

I've never minded Hull at all. I think you have the potential to be the biggest club in the country - looking at your stadium and your fan base (look how you outnumbered Leeds in the CC semi and Wigan in the CC final, who else would do that?)

Cheers for that post.

_______________
As for Tony Smith. He's been great for us but bar last season's anomaly of a season where we did well but overachieved we've steadily gone backwards since 2013 so it's the right time to go. But his achievements from 2009-2013 are historical for this club and I'll always think of Smith fondly.

I also agree with what he says about the sport in general; "The game is becoming less attractive," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"But that is my vibe on it. I am not bitter because I am finishing at Warrington, I've felt like this for a few years now."

He continued: "I'm not sure that we are growing much as a sport. I think the sport is dwindling and we need some freshness and excitement about the way we promote it."

"I wouldn't be excited about jumping into anything in rugby league just at the moment. I'd love to see some changes before I could get excited about the game as a whole,"

Maybe, rather than go into working with another club, Tony Smith could go into something with a gorverning body and address this?

Re: Tony smith to leave Warrington- Official : Sat Sep 16, 2017 12:16 am  

Tony Smith BBC 14th September 2017 wrote:

I wouldn't be excited about jumping into anything in rugby league just at the moment. I'd love to see some changes before I could get excited about the game as a whole

Tony Smith in Warrington Guardian 14th September 2017 wrote:

I love the game of rugby league. That’s the long and short of it.

Confused.