Hello, I have been reading this forum for a few years now mainly to catch up on the latest gossip and rumours at the club and this is the first time I have felt moved to post a reply on any subject. This is a very sore subject for me since I was stood behind Steadman when two dozen fans decided to take action and basicly picket the dressing room door to demand a change at the club and steady had the guts to come out and address them and let them know that he would be doing all he could to fix things at the club for which he was applauded by many of the protesters. The next day he was sacked. Now Steady's playing days were a few years before my time as a supporter but everything that I have heard and read tells me how much of a how much of a legend he was and how much the fans loved him and yet a few years into his senior coaching career he was gone. The devastation on the mans face in subsequent interviews ( despite our humiliation under his leadership) damn near broke my heart not just because of how it had ended for him but for what had come before and all the love and admiration that he had from the fans and board was gone after an awful start to the season.This is not the same situation. Terry Matterson came to our club at extremely short notice with a squad of players that were not his own and after a shaky start got us playing as a team and with the signing of Danny Brough we took the fight to the last day, did not finnish bottom and and finnished with a record amount of points for a relegated team. You would have to be he worlds biggest cynic to take the view that Terry and the club were not at least a little unlucky that year.
On to NL1 and one of the best examples of a season long stratagy of peaking towards the back end of the year I have seen from any team. We were close to perfect in our approach and with the emergence of Westerman,Owen and the like we had high hopes for our imediate future. Nobody likes "gap years" in sport and the cas fans did well to stick by the club through mostly bad times.
A year later we go from bottom to seventh and could have easily have gone alot higher had we had similar home form to our away form who knows? This year an uninspiring start has been compounded by odd comments from RW telling us not to expect to much and PAINFUL silence and disturbing reports about "phased development" of our dream stadia have got the fans nervous and frustrated. I am extremly disapointed at our current form and communication from the bod but the idea of a protest right after what could potentially be a "difficult" day for us could almost certainly make things worse (yes things could be a lot worse, I know because I have seen worse) We took a gamble on a small squad and it has come back to bite us with injury after injury to some of our most effective players and all the while the likes of Hull and Warrington have made supreme signings and strides this year. Does this mean we throw our hands up and give in? NO but we do have to temper our expectations just a little whilst screaming for better ON THE TERRACES. For what its worth I think the second biggest problem this year behind our squad size is the nerves of the team. they looked nervous at the Childprats place and we never saw them threaten the Wakefield line in the second half. We need confidence and more leadership on the park but if the fans want the big win then we have to play our part and build them up and hold off the protest for a while PLEASE and give the injured players a chance to make a comeback and make a difference.
Right now thats off my chest I am on my way out the door to cheer my team on and hopefully a good game is in store but I just hope it is not soured by any more "incidents" that the RFL can use against us. Dont bottle it Cas fans!! Good luck.

=#FFFF00UP THE TIGERS!!


P.S. Sorry to prattle on.

get wright out the prize one pr...

That's a great post. It's threads like this one that make me embarrassed to be a Cas fan at times.

And for those saying we were the only full time team in our last NL1 stint... you're wrong. Widnes were also full time.

WOW WHAT A SEASON WE HAD THAT YEAR THEN, my god does that make where we are and how we are now any better

Well sounds like the protest is in full swing. Matterson couldn't get out for an interview with the press. The board members had to be escorted round the pitch to get to the Vice Presidents Suite

all the protests in the world won't alter the financial situation at cas. the only thing that will is a new stadium and you need to concentrate all your efforts into achieving one. i know its hard after a heavy defeat to be objective (and we should know!) but protests only create division and you need to be pulling together when times are tough.

You mean in Super league? Just having had our best season in 8 years?

I fail to see how a stadium will aid Cas in the same way it will aid Wakefield, both teams struggle to get 8000+ a new stadium does it ensure a 10k+ crowd please educate me into how this happens

Well it happened for Warrington, why not anyone else? people will be willing to pay for better facilities

Off the top of my head:

1. it will provide a safer, more comfortable environment for young fans
2. it will be located next to the most popular paid-for tourist attraction outside of London - increasing club visibility and offering another entertainment option for weekend visitors to Glasshoughton
3. fantastic transport links by road and rail - immediate access to the M62, rapid access to the A1 and M1 - meaning fans can travel from further away quicker, making it more attractive for potential fans to visit

It will happen for wakefield as no kids can see at the ground for starters.

what he said!

Bigger commercial facilities meaning bigger sponsorship and more sponsors also means bigger attendances.

Was very interesting to dave woods at jungle. He found the protest quite entertaining. Nice to see jon wells here too. Shame matterson was escorted straight out of the ground. Did he not want to join the rest of the team? Sad times.

He was probably more fearing that the protesters were after him.

And what a protest it was! Hoardes of people shouting, I could barely see the sky for the banners. As I departed I saw a helicopter circling overhead and a BBC news van racing down the lane. Those leading the hoardes will forever be mortalised as the Castleford Three.

Seriously, there were 2 old guys having a go at Wright and Matterson (and Poskitt and Ellis(?) whoever he is), 15 people clapping, lots of people watching, no banners and I heard one song. I doubt it will have affected Wright or Matterson. I think demonstrations need to be properly organised for them to have an effect as everyone seemed to be waiting for someone to say something. Very little effect. I think you'd be better off voting with your feet.

The helicopter was for Richard Wright i think. He had to be airlifted out of the ground after the abuse he got!!
Seriously though it was a start..and i hope the fans who are unhappy with the way things are join in the protest at the Barrow game.

ok then we will keep quiet and no demonstrations. thats exactly what wright and co would like us to keep doing, but i hope not, cos most of us have had enough. before matterson got the job, it was dave woods who put his hand up to do the job cos nobody else wanted it cos they did not want to be the one who failed to get us promoted, woods did it and got crapped on by wright and co, before that when steadman was in charge and the players he signed, wright said at the time its the best squad we have had, and what happened then, relegated. woods in, promoted and sacked. matterson in, relegated and kept on. it was mainly down to danny brough that we got up again not matterson. last season we win three games at home, simply not good enough, this season won at home once and was lucky to win that, when is the next one going to be. our supporters deserve better than what they are getting, but while ever we we are just accepting wright and co's rubbish and just keep turning up and keeping quiet, i would like to think not. lets just keep paying for marketing people and the like, never mind the playing staff they dont matter. lets have a mass meeting at the civic centre and tell wright and co its time to go, enough is enough.

To be fair mate I'd rather still go to show my support for the team through the bad times but 2day was a way of showing the officials our feelings. 90% of the team put in the effort, it's just a shame most of them aren't up to super league standard.

But on the matterson issue, he'd already walked through the crowd (after shoulder barging an old man who stood in his way trying to question him) and only had the restaurant stairs to contend with but decided to leave through the scargill gates.

A new stadium certainly will alter the clubs financial situation.....it will probably financially cripple us for the next 20 years or so! All for the love of SKY!

You misunderstand me. You can hire Elland Road and invite everyone along but unless you've put some actual thought into it you won't get maximum effect. I'm neither for or against Matterson/Wright. I suppose you could say i'm a passive but interested observer. I just don't think organising a protest 20 hours before it's due to take place and then having 2 old guys having a whinge is the best way to get yourselves heard.

A few years ago at Saints, there were calls for protests etc.

However what happened was that a few "leaders" from the Independant Supporters club wrote to the club and said "On behalf of the fans can we come and have a chat with you?". The club agreed and as far as I am aware there is still a dialogue between the club and the Independent supporters.

The think to do is get yourselves organised and try to have a civil chat with them.

GOOD LUCK. I would rather have Cas than Wakey and Feath anyday

Just to clarify I thought I refered to our finishing bottom after we were promoted with "my gap" year comment but reading it back it is rather vague so I am sorry for that. As far as us being one of a few full timers in the league this is true and was a big benefit but I was talking about how a team that had been soundly beaten by widnes early in the season peaked brilliantly at the back end of the year and we were totally out of sight on the pitch and I just think TM deserves a little credit for that Its just my opinion but no team has the right to win any game or league and as far as us knowing the rules and exemptions when we went down I was not saying that we were cheated or that it was not fair just that under the circumstances (and believe me I could write a book on the circumstances) we were a tad unlucky to be going down and I was only trying to make reference the difficulties TM had to contend with without a lot of preparation.
Just saying.

Super League wouldn't be the same without Cas, don't think you would miss out on a franchise.

Wakey, however...............