[Mild Rover]

Just hoping wrote:

Looking like another pathetic performance, have we got anyone capable of scoring?,
Next weekend derby at Newcastle looks like it will be a rip roaring game, both teams may as well field their academy sides, probably more entertaining

Next week has classic written all over it!

I can't really understand what's going on.
Tony going you wouldn't have thought would have lead to a massive drop off, but it clearly has.
What's Mags up to?
Looks very much like we've just given up this season and that's unacceptable, people pay their money,they expect a performance.

Time for Tony to hand over the reins?

[Mild Rover]

Just hoping wrote:

Time for Tony to hand over the reins?

Yeah, I think it possibly is. If he won’t resign, then gardening leave time perhaps.

It’s a shame, but this where we are now. It’s not healthy for anybody to drag it out further, imo.

hull fan in peace, why do you think its gone bottoms up? you see coaches leave all the time and in most cases the team they leaving up the ante, on a side note fc and kr have sold the most tickets for next week, fair play to all the fans

[Mild Rover]

hull2524 wrote:

hull fan in peace, why do you think its gone bottoms up? you see coaches leave all the time and in most cases the team they leaving up the ante, on a side note fc and kr have sold the most tickets for next week, fair play to all the fans

The obvious explanation is that the manner of Smith’s announcement just sucked the air out of the club. I suspect it is more complicated than that. We’ve had a lot of long-term injuries to key players. Our style of play maybe means we tend towards the streaky. However, it’ll be remembered as the season Tony Smith had a strop and the wheels came off, I’m pretty certain.

There’s that old question about whether it is better to be lucky or good. But they’re not mutually exclusive. I’m not far enough down the revisionist rabbit hole to say he isn’t a good coach. But…

He had the longest losing streak of any SL coach not to be sacked at Hudds and took them down. He was undoubtedly lucky to get that golden generation at Leeds. They were probably lucky to get him too, but they did better afterwards without him than vice versa. The 2008 World Cup was a bit of a disaster but was described as ‘taking England to the semi-final’ by the BBC ahead our CC twatting by Hudds this year. Give a dog a good name and all that. At Wire he had Moran’s cash behind him. At Rovers, Sheens got the blame for the very iffy performances that continued even after Smith took over, but we were saved by Wakefield beating London… and then got quite a lot worse in Smith’s first full season. The pandemic meant no relegation and gave us a chance to recruit a bit earlier… Takairangi, Vete and Sims. Hmmm.

Overall, I think if he goes now you could make a case that he has, if not burnished his credentials at Rovers, at least not undermined his reputation. That 19-0 play-off win vs Warrington being central to the argument. If we continue in this vein, it might get rather bleak.

Mild Rover wrote:

Next week has classic written all over it!

Will it be a farce classic?

Personally loved the Brian Rix farces performed at the London Whitehall theatre in the 50's/60's. Saw a few of them as I was in London for spells during that time.

Curious that we assume the club are blameless when Tony has been valued and respected in every other club he has been at. At the end of last season his stock was sky high. Reports of Hudgell in the dugout? Didn't he do this when Justin was in charge and get in the changing room?

[Mild Rover]

Funland Robot wrote:

Curious that we assume the club are blameless when Tony has been valued and respected in every other club he has been at. At the end of last season his stock was sky high. Reports of Hudgell in the dugout? Didn't he do this when Justin was in charge and get in the changing room?

It’s because we’re losing. If we’d continued our pre-strop form, the club would have attracted flak for letting such an excellent coach go.

It’s telling the we already think of the club and Tony Smith as separate. After the way he delivered his announcement, wins were needed to stop the cracks from spreading.

When he arrived, it was a boost. He had a lot more prestige than other potential candidates linked with the role. Maybe we/the club should be more grateful, but it is not a good look for him to be the one implying that. Also, even from the very beginning it was worrying that he saw us, in part, as a vehicle to assuage his RL ennui. There was a misalignment between his boredom with percentage rugby and ours with being bullied in the middle of the park. Win and there’s no tension… lose and it feels like we’re a sketchpad for the cack ideas of somebody who has enjoyed success at rich clubs, again.