George Osbourne

Me. Have you got a problem?

"most clubs" = Salford and what a job Steve Simms does.

A few years ago Kel Coslett was football manager, but not at present.
now he is gameday manager

Not at all.

I think you'll find that most clubs do have them, not just salford. Its a position that doesnt really attract the limelight unless you make yourself public like Steve Simms does.

I guess that Mike Rush, as High Performance Manager, takes on this parts of this role.

Come on then name these "most clubs"

Warrington don't
Saints don't
Wigan don't
Leeds don't
Crusaders don't

I can't be certain aboiut the others so please enlighten me.

That is what I was thinking. I would say that McManus would have the final say with Mike Rush as an advisor. The coach would get some influence if he was respected and established i.e. Potter = No, Anderson = Yes.

Importantly Mike Rush has the best idea what we are going to produce from within so he is in the best place to identify where the gaps in talent are going to be. This is obviously the most important thing to know when signing new players or letting others go.

What a ridiculous statement.

I would imagine Saints have a long term plan for player recruitment, and aren't simply looking to sign the next player who comes along. For instnace, they will have a fair idea of when Wellens needs replacing, and how they are going to do it. Similarly with Gidley leaving, they have known for a couple of years that a replacemtn is needed, gone out and got him. That is far better than simply getting on a plane to Aus, and signing whover is offered to them at the time. Whoever does Saints recruitment, has been doing a pretty good job for the last few years. Allowing coaches to have 100% control of player movements results in short termism, maonly to save their own skins.

Why, on all of god's green earth, would the board hire a coach if they didn't value his opinion on rugby?

agree.i would go as far as saying that our recruitment for season 2012 has allready been identified and probably completed.

Yup, unless there's any truth to the Pryce rumour in which case surely we'd be looking to reinvest? Not a pre-planned move, maybe, and not ideal because of it but a necessary one IMO.

In the past we have never panicked in the transfer market,especially with long term injuries.If Pryce left now,unless there is a top quality replacement available,which there isnt,i couldnt see us replacing him for the sake of it.

I know. Problem is though, going into the season with no established stand off will see us struggle to make any kind of impact. We saw this year when Pryce and / or Eastmond were injured, we lacked a spark at times. If we run with the inexperienced Lomax or fragile Wheeler as first choice SO, we can write off our chances of silverware before a ball is kicked IMO.

Maybe there's no quality replacement available for free, but money talks and we should reinvest whatever fee we get for Pryce.

i have said it before that our biggest mistake last year was going into the season with only 1 recognised half back,and 1 who we thought would be good but had never played there regularly.If Pryce does leave we are stuffed.I thought the possible signing of Luke Dorn might have solved this,but it wasn't to be.Lets hope Pryce stays and our halves are injury free,because as good as our recruitment has been,we are week in this department.

I don't know but they managed it



You kind of missed the point, the key word in my post was established. It takes any employer a while to judge an employees worth in the company.

DA was clearly thought of highly by the board and would probably still be at the club if he had not decided to go home for family reasons. I am sure that after a year or so he would have been "in the loop".

Mick Potter on the other hand was clearly pushed by the club as he stated that he was leaving for family reasons and then accepting a job in Bradford. I think he was given the choice to jump rather than be pushed which was a nice gesture from the club. I would be very surprised if Mick ever had an input into the hiring and firing.



How constructive.


At least say why you think that.

No dice, I'm afraid Noel.
Eamonn McManus doesn't employ a head coach at Saints because he hasn't got time to do the job himself, or has more important things to do. The head coach is the club's expert on rugby league.
Whilst the board will decide whether things are practical fanancially and fit to their long term plans for the club, the coach is the guy who (popular or not) knows the most about RL and his opinion counts for a lot. Unless he has proven not to be able to make the correct decision, which never happened to Potter, there's no way his voice wouldn't be heard.

But it wouldn't necessarily be acted upon.

I have no idea how players are chosen at Saints but I can't see the suggestions of the coach being taken on board with 100% enthusiasm, no matter who the coach is. The club and the coach will have different priorities and I should imagine the final say would go to the directors simply because they are managing the team long term.

I think Saints are managing the change in personnel well on the whole. Whether those we have let go will prove to be good decisions or poor ones only time will tell, but I certainly think those we have brought on board look like positive investments within the remit of saving money/developing British talent.

True. See Ellery Hanley vs Tommy Martyn.

True. The coach doesn't have to manage the salary cap, so will perhaps have a simpler veiw and will problably always desire more than can be actually delivered.

Mmm. Again, I agree. Strange





The power of "yes or no" will lie with whomever writes the cheques, but to think the head coach isn't involved at all's a bit daft.

Colquitt: Eamon, why don't we try and get that LMS from quins? His contract is up soon, seems a good player and we could do with more depth at prop.

McManus: Well, if we can get him for the right price, we should have a look at him. What does Potter think of him?

Colquitt: Who cares?

McManus: Oh yeah. Well, if you think he's the right guy, let's get him signed.

Obviously there's some no brainers, like the jamie lyon signing, but the coaches opinion's always going to be asked.

I know you are joking but I am pretty sure that is probably how it went with a few slight differences. Here is my go...

Colquitt: Eamon, why don't we try and get that LMS from quins? His contract is up soon, seems a good player and we could do with more depth at prop.

McManus: Well, if we can get him for the right price, we should have a look at him. What does Potter think of him?

Colquitt: OK Mike what do you think of Louie?

Potter: I like Ponies

Colquitt: That reminds me I need to ring Qantas this week. They have an offer on one way tickets.

McManus: Lets go to Rushs office and ask him.

PMSL - Coffee all over the keyboard!