So is this:

A. Him trying to tell fans (in a roundabout way) to stop booing the players off the pitch and Give McD a break
B. Him trying to pre-empt the considerable drop off in season ticket sales for next season when we finish 11th or 12th in the table after round 23
C. Him genuinely trying to support the players
D. Him believing his own and McD's hype about finishing in the top 8
E. All of the above?

In whatever case I appreciate that he has taken the time to re-assure us personally that he believes in the team and that we don't need to worry as we will make the top 8.

On a positive note, it's good to hear something from the top dog, but in reality he's told us nothing.....
This 'we're all remaining positive and trying hard' email, backed up with McD's article in the YEP where he says players aren't 'out of form' and its other factors 'outside our control' (presumably injuries and facilities) certainly doesn't fill me with confidence that things are happening behind the scenes to improve things.

It feels very much that both McD and GH are pretty much saying they're just going to ride out this tough time, and when everyone is healthy, and we're back in our facilities, things will just naturally improve and get better..... Seems very naive to me.

Well done to the club and GH for accepting that the fans needed contacting and some explanation as why the club is in its current position

A much more personal way than rolling Peter Smith in.

A good positive move from the club

it cheered me up no end.Although I appreciate what GH said injuries must play a part and the lack of facilities must be a factor to

If the club require further inspiration to explain away the current predicament, they could do a lot worse than temporarily employing Gutenberg, Him and Juan Cornetto in some kind of spin capacity.

Peter Smith of the YEP and Hetherington's Budgie can't do it all by themselves.

I'll stop cringing soon I hope.

More soundbites imo time for actions.

Did it at least include a 5% off voucher for special magic & middle 8 shirts to keep you all onside

Apparently we're not a club in crisis!!!

WTF constitutes a crisis??? Bottom of the league, out of the cup at the first hurdle, not one win away from home and a massive 3 wins under our belt.

If this isn't a crisis situation then what is? What is it going to take for the club/GH to admit that we have a fundamental problem that desperately needs addressing?

Every week we're hearing things like "we're all still positive" and "there's still a great feeling round the players that they can achieve their goal this year" but every week we're still losing.

Positive spin unfortunately doesn't put points on the table.

What Gary says and what Gary does, have often been totally different things. I am pretty convinced, that unless a win on Thursday, this time next week will be a statement completely the oppossite of todays.

if we don't string a few wins together including Tuesday then it will be an official crisis .Even with all the injuries and the lack of training facilities with the squad of players they have had out they are not the worst in SL on paper.This time last year everyone including GH were saying the futures bright

think winning on Tuesday could be tough

92 days into a 247 day season - only pride and the avoidance of William's SLWBR status (or whatever the correct acronym) remains. Would be pretty tragic for any Leeds club at any part of it's history let alone this one, the season of the triple defence.

woops

When a senior figure sends out a don't panic message it invariably means things are on bad shape, but then we all know that.

In reality this tell us nothing and means nothing. The only thing that matters is the win/loss column because that drives everything at this level.

I believe the Kirkstall gym for the players has reopened today, so at least we will get to see if this makes any difference. JJB and co can start to train like 'werewolves' again.

Just to add a little more to the pile, we are bottom of a league containing a team which suffered a 6 point deduction.

Are we even planning recruitment for 2017? If he had any sense he would at least have said that we have plans to build and recruit so there wont be a repeat of this seasons debacle. The fact he silent on that and this is a dont panic everythings fine message (when patently its not) speaks volumes. Theres clearly something rotten behind the scenes and a head in the sand attitude is a recipe for relegation. What was also telling was the list of objectives for the club with having a team we can be proud of (not a succesful winning team) bottom of the list. Ridiculous everything else to do with the club flows from the performance on the pitch and the fact thats not the clubs primary focus tells you all you need to know about why we sit bottom of the league and are arguably the worst team in the division by any measure

The Cas game is huge for GH to continue this narrative. Win, and we're three points behind them in 8th, which an optimist would see as easily attainable if we hit sort of form. Lose, and we're 7 points behind Cas, at least 6 behind 8th, and the season looks over. Then I think we'd see some dramatic changes, but if we limp past Cas we won't.

A loss on Thursday and a loss the week after vs Wigan confirms our status and we will be the first team confirmed in the middle eights. I think the statement he's made today may change slightly by then.

It told us nothing we didn't know and for me was just a way of keeping fans opinions towards him at bay a little bit on Thursday if we lose again. Still the letter means he's woken up a little that this season is a shambles even though he won't admit that. Still I wanted to hear something from the club and while for me it meant very little he realised we needed to hear from him.

We won't be "confirmed" in the middle eights with two more losses.

I know it was an e-mail, but I can't help hearing it in Corporal Jones voice. I didn't expect a great deal out of this season and so far we're living down to my expectations. I'm not panicking uncle Gary, but I can't help thinking some f'd up the succession planning

We could be anything from six points to nine points behind with eight games to go. Fair enough I have worked it out wrong but if we are anything more than four wins behind that's too much for me. Especially with the way our games are:

Castleford H, Wigan MW, Warrington A, Catalan H, Salford H, Wakefield A, Widnes H, Hull FC A, Wigan H, Hull KR A.

If we lose to Cas then middle 8s it is.lets not forget We havn't won a game away yet or won two games in a row.