Good post, Moz. It pretty much sums up my feelings too. I don't fully know what KF's job entails, so I don't feel able to judge whether he's doing it well enough or not. I certainly don't believe it's as simple as 'results and performances have plummeted, therefore KF is rubbish'.

For probably multiple reasons, and over a period of time, failure has simply become endemic at Wire. It feels to me like it needs some sort of expert, external trouble-shooter to come in and spend time doing a root and branch review of the club's set-up, trying to pinpoint where the issues lie, and how we can begin to overcome them and get out of this rut of under-achievement.

DP's talk of culture change seemed to be bearing fruit at the start of the season, and yet Sunday felt every bit like a 'back to square one' performance (or rather, non-performance).

i've defended fitz(more out of the sake of neutrality than actually defending) on here a fair bit, cos i think he gets a bit of a rough deal, he's an easy target, people want a professional sports administrator, and conveniently forget what a bag uncle rog was when he was here.

People then hark back to wanting gatcliffe back, we were steady with him here but went through lean periods pre tony smiths arrival, and then after 2013's team broke up, he wasn't a magician, also lets not forget the Vape sponsorship he agreed to just before he departed which copped the club a lot of bad press.

People complain about Fitz because he wants fan enagement, social media interaction and as mentioned today, wants to turn us into an NFL/american sports team. Those teams make MILLIONS of dollars, is that such a bad aim? they probably make more money from fans not even turning up (through merch) than we do gate receipts.

People complain about the whizzy rascal and wolfie vids, they're not aimed at us, we're old curmudgeonly s, and our fan base(RL and Warrington's) is getting older, they're trying their best to make RL cool for the kids, who can then grow into old curmudgeonly s.

He's got to keep the lights on as well as trying to get us to a grand final. The team doesn't exist in a vaccuum.

and just to say again, he's an easy target to have a pop at, one could argue, that this period price and powell has been since Stuart Middleton became a major controlling influence in the club, who's to say whats going on in terms of powell, recruitment etc isn't at his behest?

Seen this a few times over last few seasons, he is trying to get younger fans in etc, ok I get that but us curmudgeonly lovers as you call us what about what we want do we get parked up now because our time is nearly over? I’m not old enough to have seen us win the championship and at this rate could be doubtful I ever will. Anyway just looking at attendances for 11 games and we up avg 2700 up on last season is that because of whizzy rascal or because we were winning games.

Whats his twitter handle, i didn't realise he tweeted?

One of his staff who he manages. Apologies Gaz Fitzpatrick.

Thats a shame, he has blocked my mobile number

Crickey that’s dire
Shows why we need to hang on to Kirkpatrick, where would we be without the laughs he gives us

Two negative press stories today about the Wire to add to the McGuire shambles.

1. The club not paying minimum wage - we have issued a reply/explanation.

2. A member of the female squad being dismissed from the Police for racist abuse. Police have fired her instantly, we're making further inquiries

Things not going very well at the minute.

Two very disappointing things to come out of the club this morning. You add that to the current tripe we’re witnessing on the field lately and there’s not much to get giddy about.

Kiss Cam Karl is under huge pressure to save his job here.

Not going well for him at all.

Probably better to dump the trash in one go…
Clean bin.

A terrible picture of the club is being painted at the moment.

LoveRL now taking the absolute mick - grim reading https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/wa ... t-strategy

LoveRL now taking the absolute mick - grim reading https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/wa ... t-strategy

Quote ="ratticusfinch"LoveRL now taking the absolute mick - grim reading https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/wa ... t-strategy'" Been evident for a while that recruitment strategy is very poor. All the bad boys from the NRL will be turning up on our doorstep for suspended holidays on full pay. BTW Wizzy Rascals car is in our backs ,on a brick with the wheels off.

Quote ="ratticusfinch"LoveRL now taking the absolute mick - grim reading https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/wa ... t-strategy'" Been evident for a while that recruitment strategy is very poor. All the bad boys from the NRL will be turning up on our doorstep for suspended holidays on full pay. BTW Wizzy Rascals car is in our backs ,on a brick with the wheels off.

Is it any coincidence that it all falls after the level headed leadership of Andy Gatcliffe?

Minikin's not been great, but that's harsh.

I bet he isn't.

Before Gatcliffe took over we were surrounded by drama, stories of being on the verge of going bust, players not being paid. Then Gatcliffe took over and gave us a decade or so where there was the sense of the club moving forwards, getting a new stadium, improving the squad year by year, winning trophies. We went from being a club fading away in mediocrity to one of the big players.

After Gatcliffe left, for a while it felt like we were treading water but we have slowly descended back into being a club surrounded by drama and chaos.

It’s got to be said that we are the best at all this sort of stuff; the BEST.
No competition
And it’s all down to Fitzy, awesome.
Legend

Gatcliffe was brilliant. A proper supporter who actually cared about the club. Karl won’t be bothered one but about last nights debacle. He’ll be planning Wolfie’s next stunt as we speak.

But, you can’t argue that we’re ahead of the curve in a few areas. We led with PDRL, and linked with Adam Hills and have reaped the reward of that. Social media, given our footprint compared to Leeds for example, we’re up there with the best. The stadium is busy, corporately.

We can’t just put that in the long grass. It’s a business, the footprint is where the money comes from. He’s just not going to have oversight or ultimately the respect of elite sportspeople, owing to his lack of CV.

If you get called to the CEO because you have stepped out of line, you don’t imagine sat in-front of a fella wearing a vest, one of Prue Leith’s ear rings and chewing gum. You need a healthy fear of them, to be scared if them as to how ruthless they are, how much they demand the absolute best of them and demand the absolute best for the brand of the business from top to bottom.

I don’t get that from Karl.

Yes KF has improved lots of things on the off field side. Although there have been a few too many gimmicks and cringey things for my liking, the club does have a professional social media presence and seems to be doing well on the corporate side, all that 'match day experience' stuff. There is clearly a role for that and rugby league in general doesn't do it well. So KF has his strengths. I just don't think CEO is the right role, just like centre wasn't the right role for Ben Westwood and halfback wasn't the right role for Michael Monaghan or Chris Bridge.

I often think there must be a role at the RFL that would be perfect for someone like KF to stop the game dying on its booty, he has lots of energy and ideas about how to promote the game.

Maybe. How have our average attendances performed in his time?

Ok take my hat off to him for all that but stand to be corrected here but I don’t see that much of all that from Saints, Wigan and Leeds. Maybe they do stuff but they don’t have to do it as much because their teams are in all the finals year after year hence much bigger fan base. Said it a million times sport is a results driven business, I myself have seen many a fan disappear when results are poor. This season based on 1st 11 games we were 2700 up on avg of last years attendance. What’s the next 11 going to be if we continue on current curve.

Correct. This idea that he wants to make us an American sports team and that it’s all about the ‘day out’ rather than the match is an absolute fantasy. It’s Super League. We’re never going to be an American Sports club or anywhere close. There isn’t enough money in the game and there certainly isn’t enough people who watch the sport. I’ve said it time and time again, playing well, winning games and winning trophies will get people through the door. The CEO needs to set us up with a championship winning team in place, e.g a credible coach who can win SL and recruit the right players. Do that, start winning games, winning trophies and you can tweet as much as and send Wolfie wherever you like. It wouldn’t irk fans half as much if we addressed the on field stuff first but he’s got it the wrong way around.