2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:25 am  

I know these have to be done but even I am getting sick of the same lines flogged out year after year!! http://m.skysports.com/article/rugbyleague//9496041

I know these have to be done but even I am getting sick of the same lines flogged out year after year!! http://m.skysports.com/article/rugbyleague//9496041

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:49 am  

As you say it has to be done, he's trying to sell season tickets and build hype again after a disappointing end. What else can he say.

But yeh.. it's clearly not true. It'll take something monumentally special to win the double next year.

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:16 am  

LeedsDave wrote:

As you say it has to be done, he's trying to sell season tickets and build hype again after a disappointing end. What else can he say.

But yeh.. it's clearly not true. It'll take something monumentally special to win the double next year.

Well personally, I have been a season ticket holder every year since 1978, and whilst I thank Hetherington for been clear, I think the message sent will do the polar opposite of selling season tickets, It certainly makes my decision a lot easier next year to have a break from buying one.

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:22 am  

Who had 30th September in the sweepstake?

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:25 am  

Well, surely even GH can't believe the current squad has realistic chance of the treble from next season.

A lot of people think we will struggle to make the play offs, i am not one of them by the way, but i am not delusional enough to think that squad can sweep all before it.Time to face facts that the re build is needed now or very shortly and the cheque book needs a dust off or we will be left in the wilderness for a while.

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:34 am  

It has got my back up reading that. If he at least acknowledged that it has been not very good the last few months and that we are at the 'beginning of the end' / 'the start of a new beginning' and to 'have patience while we go through it' I would be a lot more inclined to be a 'single cell organism' (from now on, 'SCO').

You know, 'our target is to get back closer to the top of the table, to be more consistent and to go as far as we can towards the cups and see what happens' rather than the generic 'win each of the cups' without explanation of how exactly.

'Put your trust in our model*'

* This sentence was cut short - it actually said 'model 4x4 electronic wheelchair, perfect for older rugby league players which we will be using over the next couple of years, rather than having a clear plan on replacing them'.

It is garbage bordering on Pardew-standards. And I have been going nuts having to listen for him for the last two years with deluded rubbish.

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:35 am  

Is this the earliest we've had any transfer rumours put to bed in living memory? Does this man not appreciate our need to have something to talk about in the winter?

Here's a thought on squad investment. Assuming (safe-ish I think) that the club has the same wad to spend on wages and transfer fees as anyone else under the salary cap, and thus nobody personally would gain by under-spending, how big an obstacle will the Holy Trinity be to recruiting halfbacks, in particular? Let's face it, nobody can really be paying hugely larger sums of cash to their top players, but surely those top players weigh up other things, so the prospect of having to fight 3 club legends for 2 shirts is pretty unappealing. So maybe such recruitment has to be linked to one or more retirements?

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:41 am  

GH acknowledging it's a far easier job flogging season tickets on the back of exciting star quality signings than it is via historical appeals to a model of success based upon mediocrity and playing the system.

Playing the system by deliberately finishing outside the Top 4 is no longer an option therefore the target has to be a higher placing next season... Duh! May as well target top spot and the LLS for a change then

My view is that an increasing number of fans of SL are tired of the same crap on offer year after year. The game is a far cry from over a decade ago when genuine star quality signings have been replaced by average no names. No wonder GH is horrified at the prospect of another club signing Todd Carney.

Professional sport requires genuine star quality players to sell itself. One just has to peruse recent SL dream teams or MoS shortlists to acknowledge that countless barrels have been scraped so relentlessly, they've all become bottomless.

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:00 am  

He does acknowledge that it'll be the last time this squad plays together. It'll be interesting to see how deeply the axe bites.

Re: 2015 best squad ever : Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:01 am  

Possibly contrary to some poster's understanding of my viewpoint - I basically share the CEO's belief in the model he prescribes but for it to work you need the key positions to be filled with the right personnel and that starts at the top. Many of the key members of the playing squad have been steadily regressing ever since Hetherington rightly asked this pertinent question in 2012: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/s ... -1-4617053 yet here we are potentially going into 2015 with the majority of those question marked players still expected to carry the team forward. The Leeds old guard of special players all played in that pivotal Wigan game (Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Bailey) and three years later we're still trying to squeeze quality performances out of them but the well is almost dry bar from a few efforts a year and Hetherington surely must know with the change of format next year two of his three targets are beyond the current squad.

Possibly contrary to some poster's understanding of my viewpoint - I basically share the CEO's belief in the model he prescribes but for it to work you need the key positions to be filled with the right personnel and that starts at the top. Many of the key members of the playing squad have been steadily regressing ever since Hetherington rightly asked this pertinent question in 2012: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/s ... -1-4617053 yet here we are potentially going into 2015 with the majority of those question marked players still expected to carry the team forward. The Leeds old guard of special players all played in that pivotal Wigan game (Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Bailey) and three years later we're still trying to squeeze quality performances out of them but the well is almost dry bar from a few efforts a year and Hetherington surely must know with the change of format next year two of his three targets are beyond the current squad.