Curious to read other fans review of this season, I'll do mine later. Basically what your thoughts on the season are, why it played out like it did and what YOU would do or in your opinion what should happen to improve matters.

bad coach,bad signings in key positions Brown and Kaye very average.no moves,boring rugby,poor attack,poor defence ,no improvement in any of the players,in fact some have got worse since joining us,Tonks,Cowling.
Needs a complete shake up and hopefully a coach with some attacking ideas.

Losing players like Branighan, Black, Royston, Beswick, Penky etc.... and being unable to replace them like for like.

Whichever way you look at it that's one hell of a loss of personnel over a relatively short period of time. Take out Riddy, Brierley, Penky and Pownall from the Leigh side and you'd have a similar effect.

Team has also been low on confidence. That Leigh second half at The Shay destroyed us.

Where to start?

On field things to start with and will probably add more stuff later......

Why things turned out like they did: Karl Harrison and Lee Greenwood - They lost the dressing room very early and probably lost most of the fans 2 years back. Im trying not to be too harsh because KH will always be regarded as a Fax legend for his playing days IMO but there were complaints about the two main coaches all the way up from senior players right through to the U20's and down to college kids that had coaching from one or both of them. The board did not listen and as a result we are where we are now.

Very few players have shown any sort of improvement under the coaching regime and it were quite visible that some players went backwards. It was a recipe for disaster from the start. The funny thing was though it was hard not to like Karl and I think that is why it went on as much as it did and if you take out the bollockings that he administered every game he could talk the club up and could talk players in to signing for the club, I mean the signings for the coming season all look promising and they are all his. Maybe he could have done a job 'upstairs' for the club but with the money situation that could not happen.

One of his biggest problems this season same as last was not been able to replace Penky and his poor decision in replacing Thackery. Maybe that was out of his hands as soon as Finn asked for a release but it certainly didnt help the cause. His complaints through the season before about how he had players with a slow passing movement, Im not quite sure how he thought signing Kaye and Mennell would rectify that. It probably also didnt help him that he still didnt want to believe that we were better with Holden on the pitch rather than either of his first choice hookers.

Harping back to the improvement thing and i think Morrison nailed it in his interview where he mentioned about happy players are always better players and although I think the group is tight nit Im not sure they were happy at all in the things they did in training or the things they were asked to do in a game. You only have to look at players like Thackery and even Barlow who look like twice the players they were at Fax and that has got to come down in a big part to the coach.

When it comes to picking the coach the reality is there wont be too many people who either fancy it or who will be suitable. There seems to be a couple of names been mentioned on different forums, one imo would almost be like for like, a coach who can do a job for a season but then the club goes stale, or a young coach learning his trade under a top quality coach at a good SL club. From what I have heard about the young coach he seems to be very keen, technically seems to have a lot of fresh ideas and will not be the sort to lambast the players after every single mistake and may even be able to compliment the players when they do something well. Its a no brainer for me but it looks like there are still some people yet to be interviewed so the best candidate could still be out there.

Again the others have said it.

Latest name to be linked for the coaching role from the younger end is Richard Marshal who is leaving Warrington.

Speaking of Warrington, retiring hooker Michael Monaghan has turned down the offer of coaching from SW Crusaders simply stating he is considering a couple of other possible coaching option.

Could be nothing in it.

Well I think the issues with this season stemmed from the previous 2, KH got rid of players and brought in what looked to be decent replacements but then had a gameplan that just wasn't up to it.
IMO he just didn't seem to know what his best team was so there was constant chopping and changing so we never got any consistency. He seemed to drop players for a slightly bad game and others just fell out of favour for reasons that were never explained.
I just didn't really get what direction he was trying to go, possibly at Salford they were happy to get mid table and at Batley they probably over achieved.
Anyway let's hope the new season brings a new direction.

Think Marshall as head coach with Monaghan as assistant would be a cracking result. Successful club, new ideas, get em in!

The problem was for me was Karl didnt really know how to put his gameplan across to the players last season and then made massive changes again including 6,7 and 9 which was always going to see problems this year. He couldnt see or help improve players and they were just drifting along. He never really trusted the U20s to make the step up and they probably felt they would have little chance to show what they can do. You cant just build a team and get success it takes time to gel properly. The spine of the team was too slow and changed from week to week. Why drop Johnson for Brown who hadnt played for weeks? Scott Murrell is too slow for Stand Off and is best at 13.
The players seemed to lose faith in Karl and Karl in them and in the end nobody had a clue what was supposed to happen. The players and Karl were not honest with each other or us. Excuses kept coming and things got worse. It was the excuses and lack of honesty which caused me to lose interest. The Club was not being honest about certain things and the buying of The Shay drama was just the icing on the cake. Mentally the players season finished weeks ago. They needed lifting and needed help to sort themselves out as players and as a team- but Karl and the coaching staff for whatever reason couldnt deliver.

I think we need to have a mass clearout. Get somebody in who has a record of working with quality players and improving them. Richard Marshalls name has come up and having worked at Warrington with Tony Smith might be a good option or a young assistant from an NRL club- I understand there are a couple that have been interviewed. I dont want somebody like Kear, Noble etc. Honesty and telling things as they are needs to start coming from the Club as well as the new Coaching Staff and Players. I dont mind losing if people put in their best and are honest. The club needs to start respecting the fans a bit more IMHO and the Fans need to have a bit more appreciation for the things the board and others do. Without the Board and Volunteers we have a weaker club. Without more fans we have a weaker club. Halifax RLFC needs to grow and it needs all to pull in the same direction and be honest but respectful with everybody.

I expect us to be rebuilding next year and not really challenging. You cant expect the new coach to turn things around quickly after what has happened. Also the new coach needs to be given time to show what he can and not people calling for his head after the first couple of defeats.

That really sums it up. A very good and reasoned post.

Once again im with you + GFB post

as an aside mr B,what's your run up to now ? is that 10 complete seasons.Hopefully next year you will get the rugby your support deserves.

poor man management and sometimes bizarre team selection (player gets MOTM one week then is dropped the week after) are just some of the things that I feel went wrong for us. Negative/over cautious tactics didn't help but I feel the crowd getting on the backs of the coaches and players constantly can't have helped. Flashes of great play (Holden was a good thing to come from this season) but we were too often found out and lack of plan B always left us vulnerable

In the words of Blackadder
"it started badly, it tailed off a little in the middle and the less said about the end the better — but apart from that it was excellent."

Two words sum up this season. Dire & Clueless.
The highlight of the season was the final hooter on Sunday.
Another season where players with flair and invention were shown the door to be replaced with willing workhorses, who then had any thoughts of inspirational play coached out of them.
A season where the pitches were either too soft or too hard.
A season where passing the ball seemed to be a dirty word and backing up a player in possession a rarity.
A season of declining crowds ( but oddly not according to the published attendences LOL )
A season of hopeless P.A. systems on a Sunday, but very good the previous day usually.
A season of invisible directors who were quieter than a Trappist male voice choir.
But hope springs eternal and there were some positives:-
Fax TV, a great idea which improves all the time.
Keith Holden. His enthusiasm created a buzz every time he came onto the pitch.
Andy Bracek played his heart out every match, usually having been selected in the wrong position.
Fax still have a core of about 750 fans. There is massive potential waiting for good rugby.
There is passion for the club. Harness that passion and light the blue touchpaper.
Appoint Barry Eaton as the next coach and "Bring On The Bulls"

Been away for a couple of weeks so just got back to catch up on what's been happening and latest story lines etc.
I did manage to see the Dewsbury game and think that really summed up where we were at for the season.
Plenty of huff and puff but sadly lacking in pace and class-especially in the pivot positions.
One statement from KH at a pre season supporters meeting 'you can't have enough props' just about summarised how we were going to play this season and that's exactly how it panned out.
Over the 3 years we have binned/lost some very creative players and replaced with ones that simply haven't been in that league.
This league seems to just pass the same players around the clubs and having a no 'foreigner's and dual reg recruitment policy I'm afraid meant we were never going to surprise the opposition with unknown talent as our players were already known to opposing teams and coaches.
The 5 drives and a kick was clearly not working and in the middle of the season, when we woke up to that, we did play some better rugby.
Some players appear to me to have been disllusioned by the 'stick' treatment when they probably would have responded more with the 'carrot' treatment and the best coaches have a good balance between the two. Ours didn't by the look of the want aways that have since ripped up trees at other clubs.
We as spectators also must harbour some responsibility as the negativity on here and other social media and on the terraces will be read and heard by the players, whether they admit to that or not. Sport is all about confidence and we looked at times as though we were playing with the weight of the world on our shoulders.
The club and its coaching staff need to get that bond that other clubs have with their spectators-look at Rowley after the Leeds v Leigh game applauding and mixing with the Leigh fans on the terraces; listen to the Dewsbury fans on Sunday 'Morro Morro give us a wave'-I never heard that with the Fax crowd and KH. These are the building blocks of any successful club and Fax need to rebuild that quickly and try break down this stigma/perception of just hitting the fans for money all the time and allegedly not paying our bills!
However what we must not lose sight of is that we did finish 3rd from top-not bottom.
That's a good base to build on but we need to up our whole game both on and off the field next season in what is going to be an even tougher league to play in.
I see on another topic the RFL are having a presentation and Q&A day. Might be a good idea to get the positive ball rolling once we have a new coach to get a' Meet the new coach and Directors meeting together' so we can all start to get on the same page and push this historical and great club forward and put all the negativity behind us. (One suggestion for you on Fax TV Triran?)

Top post and I agree, honesty is the word plus professionalism in ALL departments at the club, I keep saying it but I want Halifax RLFC to be known for being both of these and sadly they are not renowned for the latter one especially.
I did not enjoy most games last season as for me I never saw one where we did a full 80 minutes, we only won two games with comfort the Donny and Whitehaven home games, all the rest we toiled and whilst we lost a few we should have won like Batley and Dewsbury away we also could have lost a couple as well like Workington and Crusaders away.
We saw players in and out of the team to the point I struggled to recognise some of them, nobody really stood out over the whole season Luke Ambler apart and nobody seemed to get better in most cases only worse.
So lets put a line under last year and look forward to better things next season, I am sure it will be I have forgotten this season already!

I thought I would write with an alternative view point away from the pitch but my view on the season.

At the beginning of the season I was asked to help the coaching the team with the new performance software. This software has changed how I view the game now. We took an age to get to where we wanted to be in analysis. Obviously this is only a small piece of the puzzle but it was something we wanted to get right to help move forward. Very interesting to see the software and the camera angles to view how the game was played. It can only help us moving forward now we have everything working fully from the beginning of 2015.

The second view point was trying to improve the communication as I saw the hard work of the BOD and the office - it was a shame you guys couldn't see it - hence the "re"-birth of Fax TV. I wanted to create a channel to show you guys a glimpse of the hard work and not the stuff produced by Alex Simmons. KH was brilliant at bringing ideas and supporting the channel because he felt the same. KH brought in the fantastic folks at Hudds Uni to help too. I loved interviewing Karl midweek to try to get the message. Some folk have said it can be too serious but I felt we needed to get the message across. More to come next year - I promise. The BOD have been quietly brilliant in their support especially Michael Steele - who wrote a recommendation for me on the professional network LinkedIn.

This season has been hard for various reasons and you all have your reasons. 3rd place is what it is. I would rather be there than the bottom of SL. I enjoy our battles versus Leigh and Doncaster. Fev not so much. I know the players have all tried but it simply has not happened but that is sport in my eyes.

Moaning folk about the PA - yeah I understand, I wish I knew why it is different on various game days. Past few games have been a different mic which is dross. My favourite bit was the singer Scott Conrad for the Fev home game - it was something different.

The crowds include season ticket holders as all clubs crowds do but I disagree we have a hardcore of 1250 fans imo.

Yes i have now managed 10 seasons,i have to say my resolve & commitment have been tested this last couple of seasons.Ihave now seen 306 consecutive Lg/Cup games & missed 2 of the last 507,not sure about next seasons away games as i said to Hudd-Shay on another post "Hang on every game is away for me".
Onwards & Upwards keep the Faith

Whether we have 750 or 1250 hardcore fans it just illustrates how difficult it is for the club to get back on an upward spiral. How the club can build a successful business on such low income streams is beyond me. Its a miracle we are still going! For me I find it impossible to be really positive about the future. To get better we need a major injection of quality in terms of playing staff and coaching setup. It seems an enormous task but we need to hit the ground running next season; no easy matches (and some very difficult ones) but we still need to be competitive from match 1. OK defeats are acceptable for what is likely to be a transitional season but we have to competitive. Being on the end of a walloping does nothing for a young players confidence. I await with interest the news of the new coach. Hopefully this will be a quality appointment. There are many reasons for our demise but for me the principal reason is that the board have made some appalling decisions over the years in the selection of the team coach. This goes back to our even to our SL days!

Doesn't seem that long ago but i can remember having to get to Thrum hall for 2-15 for big games as they locked the gates at 9800 attendance.You couldn't envisage at that time that 90% of our fans would lose interest.