My initial thoughts are why do we need a 500th McNamara leaving thread? Don't we have enough already?

just wanted to put the article on here sorry.

My first thought is I'd like to thank McNamara for his effort and commitment to the club through some very difficult times. And I wish him all the best for his job with England. Yes he had bad days and made some shocking decisions, but he also made some good ones and thats what happens when you learn your trade in the most difficult and public situations. I'm not sure there are many other coaches we could afford that would have won anything, and now we are startign to see the fruits of the labour in terms of refocusing the club on producing its own junior talent, so because of the work done by Steve and his staff the future could be bright.

Onwards? well, depends on who we go for obviously, but I hope Hood does appoint sooner rather than later so the new guy can start planning recruitment for next year as pre contracts for available players of quality start getting sorted well before September. I'll wait for others to list every ex Bradford player/out of work coach/Aussie assistant and the pros and cons of the possibles.

Interesting times ahead.

A good response from Hood, as expected.

No panic, lets get the right man, at the right price to carry on the move upwards.

And to Echo Duckman, I too would like to thank Steve for his efforts and think his efforts over the last 3-4 years, may just have saved the club from sliding into oblivion.

Good luck in your new role Steve.

The hard work starts now.

The RFL will be doing all they can to take Lee St Hilaire to cover McBanana's ass, the way he has been at Odsal this season, but Hood has got to stand firm and make sure he goes nowhere.

I hope Steve M has a lot of success with England more than he has had with us over the last few difficult years, I also hope Hood does not push the panic button and gets the right man to take us forward.

www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/news/469 ... nd%20Coach On the Bulls site now too

www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/news/469 ... nd%20Coach On the Bulls site now too

Well done Steve. Here's a chance to silence all your doubters.

The one saving grace is that there is time before the next guy, whoever he is, internal or external, needs to come in. A 'name' coach from outside isn't going to be that easy. Given that, according to the chairman, we're not paying the full cap, presumably for financial reasons, it does make you wonder how much is in the kitty to pay the 'name'. Along those lines I have to say that a good few, so called, 'name' coaches we have heard bandied about have a very mixed success rate at best, even if they do sound ever so good when pontificating on Sky.
Interesting times.

And SL www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=17397

And SL www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=17397

Not really. Watching the NRL it looks in general as if their players are again at least 25% in front of ours across the board in power, fitness and especially speed, and nothing McNamara could do will redress that blatant imbalance.

Just to clarify mate I was trying to be funny, not arrsey

While initially being horrified at the prospect I am now relatively pleased, given the available alternatives. I will support England with my usual blind optimism (except when Goodway was in charge, obviously). I think he deserves credit for the effort he has put in at Bradford in apparently difficult circumstances.
As ever, I would look to Aus/NZ first for a replacement. Just look at the progress made when the greatest scrum half of the 20th century was replaced.

You mean, the one with whom we won everything, frequently, and without whom we have so far won feckall?

He's swapped one poisoned chalice for another. Well, one poisoned styrofoam cup for another.

Thanks for the effort Steve, it just hasnt worked out for him.
People say he's done wonders with the youth system maybe he has had a hand in that, but there is no reason why this should stop IMO, Paul Medley is the head of youth development and he is still here, so whoever comes in is going to have Medleys expertise in that area to work with. I presume and hope the systems will stay the same.

Exactly, I've read on here comments about this setting the club back etc etc, but the youth development systems at a club should all operate independently of whoever the first team coach is.

Obviously a head coach will have some input, there isn't a coach in the world who wouldn't want good young players coming through, but it is the board of directors who are ultimately responsible for the direction the club takes, and ensuring that funding for youth development is in place.

I understand that SM has personally done much of the legwork, and young players were impressed by the level of interest he took compared to other head coaches.

I'm very pleased for Steve but it's a BIG mistake to let him job share. In any high level job you can only serve one master and I'm afraid that it will be the Bulls who suffer.

A good coach will be thinking about his team and their tactics 24/7, not just on training days, and Steve will now be thinking more of England than the Bulls.

I'm sure many people will disagree with me, and I really hope I'm wrong, but just watch the Bull's performance from now on...I'm afraid it will deteriorate.

And we had the chance of much-needed compensation!

Regarding the youth set up that's developed under McNamara. I think this may be one of the deciding factors in him getting the England job. Looking on the RFL website under their vacancy section there's been a number of development jobs being offered and it looks like the RFL are trying to put in a long term plan for bringing our national team up to standard. The important part is LONG TERM. We do not have the players to compete with Aus/NZ on the international stage. We don't. Stop your internal dialog. You cannot name me 17 English players who can go for in against the aus national team. We have to go back to grass roots and build up 30 or so players from school boy level up to the required level. And I think McNamara may just be the man to build that legacy. Is he the man to then win the world cup with that team? That's another question

yeah, didn't james donaldson say that the reason he signed for us and not leeds was that mcnamara had actually gone to his house to personally meet him but he'd not said 2 words to tony smith during negotiations with leeds?

And just who exactly would you have parachuted in immediately to replace him? Who would have been fully up to speed with everything? And who would not cause initial disruption? And who knew everything about the club and the players and what he had to deal with?

The only thing worse for the Bulls than having a Head Coach with less time and headspace on the case would be NO head coach, I suggest?

Something that has been lost on everyone on here who has repeatedly called for Macca to resign immediately because he was not delivering what they expected.

Get real!!!

Excellent. Spot on IMO. You can come again.

The only qualifications he's really got, is that he's British and he'd take the job !!!

So being part of the England set up under Tony Smith doesn't qualify as a good experience to have.........? Being part of the set up and actually having an idea of what life is like during the set up has surely got to be worth something?!?!?!

And what qualities would you like the England coach to have.............? ! ? ! ? 3 super league titles under his belt .........?

Good luck to Steve M, i hope you do really well and there is nothing more than ANY british rugby league follower wants more is for England to be able to compete with the Aussies and have a great chance of beating them consistently!