Don't knock that team. If you played for them I'd be surprised.

Did Tony Barrow get sacked or did he just move on ?We were brilliant under him.

Got fired on December 1988. Had a fantastic squad at his disposal after some hefty investment, and made an absolute pig's ear of it.

His tenure wasn't the magical time many seem to think it was.

Quote ="Dita's Slot Meter"Got fired on December 1988. Had a fantastic squad at his disposal after some hefty investment, and made an absolute pig's ear of it. His tenure wasn't the magical time many seem to think it was.'" One of our very few Warrington coaches that actual won a trophy and one of only 3 Warrington coaches that had a win rate above 60% with Price and Smith. I think your description above would be more apt for Paul Cullen. https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/team ... aches.html

Quote ="Dita's Slot Meter"Got fired on December 1988. Had a fantastic squad at his disposal after some hefty investment, and made an absolute pig's ear of it. His tenure wasn't the magical time many seem to think it was.'" One of our very few Warrington coaches that actual won a trophy and one of only 3 Warrington coaches that had a win rate above 60% with Price and Smith. I think your description above would be more apt for Paul Cullen. https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/team ... aches.html

Seems Cas board not keen on taking him back.

I wonder now, will they approach him even if it's just on a short-term basis?

and all done in an era when Wigan bought anyone and everyone they fancied - can only guess what he might have managed with Greg at half

The season he got sacked he had the likes of Phil Blake, John Woods, Des Drummond, Steve Roach, Les Davidson and Mike Gregory at his disposal and couldn't get a tune out of them.

Yes, his years in charge (not even 3 years) were eventful and often entertaining, but he came up short as much as anyone else since when it came to getting consistent success.

Top boozer though, and hard.
Was our tour party leader on the 88 lions trip down under.
Him and Roger Millward could drink us all under the table.

He could definitely look after himself..



Always remember a game at the Watersheddings, not long after he had lost his job and he had took over at Oldham - Things got a bit heated at one point and he was literally fighting with some of the Wire players (including Sir Les) on the touchline...

To be fair, Roach was performing like a forerunner to Gil Dudson and Blake wasn't here the full season but certainly things seemed to go awry for Tony when it came to handling big egos.

Maybe they thought they were better than the coach, didn't respect him, downed tools and got him the sack.

Quote ="Wires71"icon_lol.gif One of our very few Warrington coaches that actual won a trophy and one of only 3 Warrington coaches that had a win rate above 60% with Price and Smith. I think your description above would be more apt for Paul Cullen. https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/team ... aches.html'" not to be pedantic or splitting hairs. I think TB success came as a caretaker coach with Boyd as a playing assistant. We reverted back to an Ashcroft type team soon after the sacking reaction spike. In reality, that was a GF win in another era.

Quote ="Wires71"icon_lol.gif One of our very few Warrington coaches that actual won a trophy and one of only 3 Warrington coaches that had a win rate above 60% with Price and Smith. I think your description above would be more apt for Paul Cullen. https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/team ... aches.html'" not to be pedantic or splitting hairs. I think TB success came as a caretaker coach with Boyd as a playing assistant. We reverted back to an Ashcroft type team soon after the sacking reaction spike. In reality, that was a GF win in another era.

Yet it wasn't. You play by the rules of the time and Halifax were crowned champions a month earlier.

The premiership was just an end of season knockabout after the serious stuff of the league and Challenge Cup was concluded.

I’m just looking forward to the book.

Over his entire tenure (2.5 years?) his win rate was 63% or so.

Only bettered by Price and Smith in near on 40 years.

I am very fond of that period as a young boy I went home and away with my Dad. We had a tough pack and took no crap. So maybe i have rose tinted spectacles.

Yes, it was a great time to watch Wire. The period between October 1986-January1987 was probably the best quality RL I've ever seen a Wire side play - Sadly, it was very brief, which is why I don't go OTT when remembering Tony Barrow. He was a good coach, but like most of our history, it delivered less than it promised.

Honest question do you think us fans cared less then than we do now though.

We didn't have the internet, did we, where everyone blows a gasket at the slightest loss of form, or poor performance?...



Seriously though, I think we did care as much. I also think the Wire crowd, though less in number, was a lot more knowledgeable and understood the ups and downs of the game a lot more than the modern fan.

Fair answer, the question was a bit tongue in cheek.

Lot more vocal too by a long, long way. It was tribal.

Well stealing from DSM’s answer no mobile phones so everyone watched the match.

Not having a go at you personally, karetaker.

No we didn't care less, or more, for that matter.
We just [iknew our place. [/i
We could go on a 12 match winning streak, then lose to the bottom of the table the week after. That's what we were, then. We had Peter Higham's (and board) investment, but we knew we couldn't dream of competing with what was going on at Wigan. Now we've got richer benefactors, our expectations rise.

We mirrored, then, with what was going on at Leeds . Throwing money around like confetti at a wedding, yet having little to show for it. Anybody remember Gallagher, Fullerton Smith, Backo etc.

Going back to Tony Barrow.
Unless I've got this wrong, didn't he just resign, out of the blue.
We then stumbled around, and toom a punt on Johnson, who stayed for nearly 8 years.

Typical Wire

Never get a winner, always take a gamble

No no no I get exactly what you are saying. When I asked my question it got me intrigued that people talking about the good old days. If I’m being honest I went fishing on the back of DSM post but he answered it to well. What I meant about caring is in those days we didn’t have a pot to in and now we do and expectations are a lot higher.

Also thinking about the both answers of DSM and Wires71 yeh no internet no mobile phones so a totally different atmosphere, is that why so many of us prefer the Wilderspool days.

Spot on this, I've been thinking the same for a long while. Leeds matched Wigan's spending from around the 90s onwards (if my memory serves me correct) and didn't really achieve anything until their youth came through in the noughties.

to be fair, apart from Wane and Holbrook, there are no winners available... everything else is a risk... well those 2 are also a risk.

But yea, we are taking a risk with this appointment.

time a for a chnage though.. you cant blame the board for coming at it from a new angle.

Time to roll the dice.