Just showing on Sky Sports News. Tony Rea has left London and been replaced by his assistant coach Joe Grima

Don't really see the point in that. It's a squad made up of other teams loan players, with local youngsters who are not even close to being ready. Wayne Bennett couldn't get a win out of them.

Yeah be use that will solve all their problems, could be the spark but I really doubt it.

Not sure about him getting the boot, more likely he's had enough.

Its being reported he quit.

Must be fed up, and I don't blame him. All his better players left last season, his team are full of loanees, and relegation is most certainly on the cards. Get out whilst he still can so not to make his CV look any worse.

He was only ever gonna be here until the dust from the "rescue" had settled, Grima was always going to be head-coach. It's a bit of a non-story for us really, other than that TR has now collected his cheque and is booking his flight. The only thing that is going to make a difference is two more (prefferably three or four) big props. It's what we needed at the beginning of the season, it's what we needed last week, the week before, now and next week too!

2 down in a day! Featherstone have got rid of Bastian too.

Tony Rea has had many years coaching London but was never was a good coach. Ian Lenagan, in his brief tenure as majority investor at the Broncos, understood that and fired Rea. Yet Rea made a comeback after owner David Hughes became sole owner. In his recent appointment Rea was the choice of owner Hughes when lots of other candidates applied for the job. The same David Hughes had previously appointed a young novice named Rob Powell as head coach and retained him for more than a year when he was clearly incompetent. Hughes appointed and retained Zimbabawean cricketer Gus McKay as CEO when McKay was clearly clueless about the job. Later in 2013, Hughes' dithering about whether he would continue to fund the club, ensured that there were no decent players left to sign in 2014.

The only question remaining is when some investor or consortium will come to the rescue of London by replacing Hughes. However with the parochial and business unsavvy Nigel Wood as head of the RFL you can bet that such investors will never be found by the RFL.

London is destined to be relegated out of Super League, under the previously failed system of promotion and relegation that Wood has foolishly restored. This loss of a professional club as the pinnacle of the ladder of achievement in rugby league in southern England, will guarantee a depression in the previously growing and significant strength of the amateur game in southern England.

The dreadful situation at London is symptomatic of everything wrong with rugby league in England.

BTW, Tony Rea didn't jump, he was pushed:

Rea told BBC London 94.9: "I would rather have stayed on and finished the job this season, but I accept that's not my call. It was always intended that I wouldn't be here next year and David, more than anyone, felt it was a good time to do it.

"We've held together well and I feel we're going to have a really good second half of the season and prove everyone wrong. I know Joe feels the same. I'm sad that I'll not be a part of that, but I accept that it's the best thing to do."

This fiasco with Rea, along with David Hughes previous three year retention of Gus McKay as CEO, and his previous year and a half retention of Rob Powell as coach, shows once again what a slow learner, or indecisive boss, as well as poor judge of employee performance, David Hughes is.

I might add that Tony Rea was responsible for undermining and humiliating former captain Craig Gower, motivating Gower to leave the club a year and a half before his contract expired. Gower might have been still there this year and leading the club to greater, even if modest, success (like avoiding relegation) had Tony Rea never been reappointed coach.

I actually disagree that Rob Powell was incompetent, he may not have been ready for a head coaching role at the time but London/Quins actually played a much more attractive style when he was there.
It will be interesting to see if Grima can improve the team and the individuals.

The team improved massively when Gower left and Soward came in. Gower wasnt good for that team. Did nothing at the Knights when he left.

You big fibber



Jean...you are 99% of the time an annoying and incorrect idiot, but your assertion that Hughes and therefore Powell, Rea and Mackay are to blame for the demise of the club is 100% spot on and the loss of London from the top tier is indicative of the narrow mindedness of Woods and the rest of the self serving M62 mafia who have spent so much time patting themselves on the back since the RLWC that the game has missed yet another opportunity to kick on and promote itself.

What's more depressing is that I find myself agreeing with you.

Not true.

Gower's on field leadership was continually undermined by Tony Rea, who also selected several players who should not have been selected (e.g. O'Callaghan).

Soward had no more success than Gower with the rubbish team that Rea had assembled. He just played a more spectacular individual game than Gower.

Gower did something at the Knights but was injured at the Knights and was forced to retire.

Tony Rea is a good man who has tried to do great things for RL in London, but a Super League Head Coach he is not.

Even when London had some very good squads, his record was mediocre. However, given their current situation, it's hard to imagine this move having a truly beneficial impact.

I liked it when you constantly referred to him as "Anthony Rea AKA TONY RAY" in every post, like he had some sort of shouty alter-ego who could only write his name in capital letters.

Anyway, Rea going will achieve nothing other than to give Joe Grima his turn at achieving nothing whatsoever with London RL. Widnes fans will also be treated to a load of photos of their ex-player as sub-editors fail to check who's actually in the photo, like when both Leeds' had a Brian McDermott and a Ryan Hall.

I'm looking forward to seeing Grima and Baloo conversing on Saturday. it'll be a bit like Harry Pilling and Clive Lloyd coming out together to bat for Lancs.

Perhaps if Gower had played anything like the required standard he would have a case. Gower left because he was embarrassing himself with his own level of performance

The fans seem to love Joe Grima so good luck to him

Maybe so, decent performances from Gower were fewer and further between during last season. TBH Saints at home was about the only game i can remember Gower really playing well in last season ( mind you i did miss a few of the early season home games)
To be honest it was only when Soward arrived that I realised how little Gower had been offering the team last year.

Difficult to play at your best, when the manager is publicly blaming you for everyone else's (inclusing his own) deficiencies.

As the on field leader you are supposed to set the standard - something Gower did, unfortunately the standard was well below what the club was paying for. Perhaps the reason he was in Italy dinted his confidence because the Gower we saw was a pale imitation of the NRL player

Gower was very good while he was with us, he was fed up of carrying the team. He couldn't handle it.