I do get the general point, but I think we have to be careful with these hagiographies of Smith. His previous work with the club has been tremendous, but his current work is disappointing, to say the least. We may yet end up getting to Wembley and making the play-offs, but present form suggests this is unlikely. As many others have said, the persona he projects of not appearing to give a shiny one about the team's predicament is what bugs me the most. If it's true that he's stepping back from involvement in coaching, then we have to look at what he is actually doing. Recruitment would seem to be his bag if coaching has indeed gone by the wayside - if he can deliver a properly top-notch half-back, I'll be optimistic for next season. Otherwise, it could be time to move on.

It is disappointing that so many seem to accept failure as a strange badge of honour. If you are a company director experiencing growth after years of decline, you don't say "ah well, I've had my fill". You do everything you can to move forward. Look at the clubs who have rested on their laurels over the years- most will never recover.

Warrington have experienced very little failure under Tony Smith and a lot of failure under previous coaches.

Badge of honour or not, Tony Smith deserves nothing but 100% support from Warringtonians.

2 ways to look at this for me now....its would appear that Smith has decided that he needs to rebuild, so he needs to have a clearout... its upset a few of the senior players, who arent happy... A few have jumped ship asap.. the rest are still involved and are making things difficult.

Its not great squad management from Smith, who hasnt recruited well and is to blame for alot of the problems, if not all of them.

Do we let him cut this dead wood out, bring in new players and build a new squad around these young players? if so, then how long do we need to give him? i would say 2 years before were a top side again.

or do we say its his fault, his recruitment has been poor and bring in another possibly younger coach to move us forward.

The obvious problems in the squad could be solved with a clean slate and a new start....

maybe Smith can rebuild the squad and give us a grand final winning team..... Personally i don't think he can from this position... he couldnt bring us a grand final winning team with Morley, Briers, Hodgson, Carvell, King etc....

As has been pointed out he's been at the helm of the greatest Warrington side in recent memory and failed to deliver the top prize. We were the best side for three years on the trot and have no title to show for it. Saints won a grand final with a pretty average squad and we fail with a great side. I can't think of another coach I'd want at present and smith not only needs to turn it around but really kick on too...this should be a golden era. I believe kyle eastmond will be helping us out soon

This is my biggest gripe.... amazing facilities, brilliant ground, plenty of money, a fully functional academy that has been in the top 2/3 for the last 5 years.... we should be at our strongest, but were at our lowest point since Smith was appointed.

To point at a few challenge cups 3 years ago and say he is the right man is optimistic at best.

Yes it's the 'we've been rubbish for years so be thankful for the three challenge cups' attitude that annoys me. The big boys in our position would be filling their boots but we...well we seem to settle and not be ruthless enough. We can never be classed a big club until this changes. We've done well recently but really...shouldve done better.

think big but act small for a few of our fans im afraid.

'be careful what you wish for'

'be careful what you DONT wish for' more like.

Sure I've just seen dinky Dave Lyon on an itv programme about wigan council. Love that man back with his fifty yard touch finders, penalty was gold with him in the side.

Totally agree with this. We have moved on from being a 'rubbish' team and we are now a team that has serious financial backing, with top stadium, training facilities etc. and have been around the top of the league for last 5 years or so.

Have calmed down from Friday now but let's see how Tony gets us ready for this week. Something is not right but hopefully, the clear the air meeting (that's a sign of a struggling side) has cleared the 'grievances' and we can get a bit of a run going.

Michael Monaghan please... ive had a night to sleep on it and im still all for it.

The days are long gone of having to appoint established coaches with a proven track record.... The Mcrae's and Nobles arent in the frame for the top jobs anymore.... There are plenty of coaches doing well these days who were playing not that long ago

Cunningham, Mcdermott, Anderson, Powell, Harris (haha)..... It's a young mans game now.

Monaghan is a very intelligent and well respected man, who as a player was brilliant at changing the game and effecting its outcome. He would have all the players behind him... AND all the fans... If you're going to rebuild, you need to do it with the fans onside... I would rather have someone come in that knows the club and could get everyone onside.

The bottom line is that no one is being entertained here anymore.. The side is as poor as the results indicate... its the same old excuses now.

The writing was on the wall a few months ago when the players called a meeting with the management to 'air their grievances'... Things can never end well after something like that.

about 5 years ago Sally said this day would come.

Mal Meninga or Tim Sheens, coz he ought to be available soon.

Talking about Sally where's he gone + Wire Yed?

Not sure about sally, but Yed has been busy driving round the US in a mustang and hanging around outside Hooters.

Some good posts here.

We have been building the club as a whole over the last twelve years and everything bar the first team is at elite level for a club in this country.

From the move from Wilderspool to the Halliwell Jones, to moving to Padgate Campus as our training facility, and in the years we've been both places we've extended the capacity/facility to an even higher standard, to our Youth Academy (we are now contenders every year at Academy level and now are bringing through a number of players who will be good enough for the top of SL - some do need an 'A' team to allow that integration to be smoother for them though), we have brought in Roger Draper who will be huge for us in marketing and development aspects as well. Our finances are already top SL class and will only get better.

But we're going backwards on the pitch with the first team!

Was this a lack of foresight in not seeing the smooth replacement of Solomona LAnderson MKing Briers Morley Hodgson Carvell Cooper MMonaghan Waterhouse who all left within a three year period of each other? Was it lack of work in the scouting to find the required standard of players to replace them? Did we stand still for too long and just forget that these players would come to their end? or did the players we want just not want to come and we are left in the situation we are now? Was the SL salary cap not allowing us to pay players enough for us to be enticing enough? Was the standard of this league not enticing enough? We're other SL players we wanted simply happy at the clubs they were/are at?

I actually don't know the answer to those...but I can see on the pitch that we had a lack of structure to our play and that our defensive line (which may be linked to fitness) hangs back and allows opposing teams to run 8-10 meters before we meet them to tackle them. And that is a coaching problem. Smith said last night that he couldn't work out what our game plan was as if he just leaves it to the players. That is bizarre! Or is it that Agar has the plans and Smith couldn't work out what Agar had told them to do?

And how sluggish and slow are we? We look so unfit!

I would keep smith in charge but would do everything we could to bring Monaghan back as an assistant, him and briers can then sort out our attack

Well the conditioner is getting the heave ho and hopefully Clarke can sort that aspect out. I believe Smith got away with a little bit when we had those classy, clever players as he said he left the attack up to them and they were good enough to do just that. Currently our players aren't up to doing that and desperately need some coaching, Smith has to step up in this regard or maybe he's just waiting for Gidley to do it for him.

The he won us a few challenge cups line is everything that is wrong with us as a club. It just embraces a small time mentality and its just pathetic really. I dont subscribe to the "Smith is some sort of God/Coaching genius" Theory. We have the set up to be huge but we are settling for being average. I dare to dream that this club could be something for us as fans to be proud of but we cant do that until we realise that there are problems that need adressing and a lot of these have been created by the squad management and recruitment that Smith has been in charge of. Our pathetic performances of recent times lay at his door. I could possibly be kind enough to spare him the boot IF it wasnt for his terrible "I dont care attitude" and Interviews that say the same thing over and over again.

Coaches who are doing well over here at the minute are mostly younger coaches starting off or excellent motivators. My choice as head coach as of next season would be Brett Hodgson. The man knows the game was brilliant here and also hes done a decent job at Widnes many times this season when theyve been on TV or watching highlights you can see just how a lot of those plays have that Hodgson style about them

Say wah ?

I still say TS can run and tweak a team to get the best out of it, but he is pants at putting one together.

tbh i reckon one of the reasons we have signed gidley could be after a season of playing for us..he may jump into our coaching staff?

Well we didn't employ Monaghan and Hodgson when they were at the end of their playing days... So i dont see why Gidley would be any different.

John Clarke is coming back next season.

Is to be involved in the conditioning side of things ratticusfinch?

Yes a 2 year deal.

I love Tony Smith but after this season the Kaiser Chiefs song ,everyday I love you less and less comes to mind..