[urlhttp://www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12212/7772675/Powell-I-will-do-what-I-can[/url

London Broncos head coach Rob Powell insists he would be open to being given a helping hand to turn around the club's fortunes.

Broncos chairman David Hughes implemented a mid-season review after his bold decision to spend up to the salary cap this year with the addition of a host of high-profile imports looks to have backfired.

The Londoners are currently lying next to bottom of the table with just two wins from their opening 14 matches.

It is thought one recommendation of the review could be the appointment of an experienced director of rugby to work alongside Powell, who at 31 is the youngest Super League head coach by some distance.

"I will work as hard as I can for the club whilst I am employed by them," said Powell, who succeeded Brian McDermott at the start of the 2011 season.

"I've been working with London rugby league for 10 years and at this club for seven years so it's something close to my heart and whatever role I'm asked to fulfil I will carry out to the best of my ability.

"I've said from the off that I'm happy to fit into whatever structure the club thinks is appropriate - that's something out of my control.
Direction

"I came into this position because I was asked to do the job and I've been doing the job for the last 18 months.

"If the club makes a decision to do something different or take it in a different direction or ask for another way of doing it, I'm all ears, but that's not how it was presented to me."

Powell's men went close to ending their five-match losing run in Super League when they lost 14-12 to Hull in Gillingham last Sunday but they face another stiff test this weekend when they take on high-flying Catalan Dragons, who won 36-18 at the Twickenham Stoop at Easter.

"Against Hull it was the best we've defended all year, which makes it slightly disappointing because one thing we have been good at this year is scoring points," Powell said.

"Catalans have got a threat all over the field so it's a good acid test for us.

"We know if we defend like we did on Sunday and start putting some offensive things together we'll be alright."

The London-Catalan clash will open day two of the Magic Weekend at Manchester's Etihad Stadium, where all 14 Super League clubs will be in action over 24 hours.

Queue the playground bullies waiting to jump on his every word.

Naf coach or not, it is not his fault that he was appointed. In fact, the appointment at a time that was probably too early in his career has probably done him no favours at all.

What is certain is that he has tried his best (as he did in his other London league roles) and I don't think he deserves some of the awful, personal stuff that has been served up on here and elsewhere.

As for people wanting him to resign, I understand the frustrations (I'm as bitterly disappointed as the next Bronco fan) but it isn't realistic to expect ANYONE to walk away from a job when they have a wife and baby to support. Pride means nothing when you've got bills to pay and mouths to feed. I would kill my husband if he came home and said "Darling, hope you don't mind but I've chucked the job in as I'm not really up to it....nevermind, only 6 months wait til I get £60 JSA".

^^^

^^^

He is not up to the job, that is not personal it is fact and he should not keep his job because he is a nice bloke with a family. He was offered the job and if he knew he wasn't up to the challenge he should not have taken it. This is business and he does not make the grade. Anyone else in any walk of life would have been dismissed for such a woeful performance. I don't believe for a minute that anyone at the club from DH downwards expected such bad results. The club will do nothing until he has gone, I do not wish him any harm or malice whatsoever but I want a coach who can coach and a team with ambition, passion and exciting to watch and unfortunatley none of these options are in evidence with him at the helm.

He didn't have to take the job

If I was offered the CEO position in my company I wouldn't take it as the shareholders would get rid of me as I would fail without question.

Sport is a results based business as he and we know.

Full SC paid = second bottom=catastrophic failure of the manager

I wouldnt mind a contract with a fixed period of work which isnt performnace based-Dream job

Yes but if you were offered a job that you weren't up to, is that your fault or the people that thought you were?

He probably thought he was up to the job and in any case, not many people in any walk of life that are offered an improvement in their position are going to say no (I never have, anyway).

Not arguing with your other facts, w-q, but the point is you cannot afford to walk...you have to be pushed so that you get your money paid up. Family commitments have to come before personal pride or anything else, imo.

Both.

I have to disagree I am afraid. There comes a time for honesty and if I thought I was taking money under false pretences (ie I could not do the job for which I was paid) I would resign (and have btw). I have not advocated that RP should be thrown on the street but given a job for which he is better suited. Whilst he is coach the club is slowly dying and a number of promising careers could be wrecked. Some times you have to look at the bigger picture and it would best for RP and the club if he went. Another 6 months of this and there may be no club left to pay his wages and I am serious.

Not sure sky would be pleased that you've nicked their article and posted it on here...but - my thoughts have been if we do get a new coach Powell should be kept on in a different role, kinda what he was saying here.

Agree...assistant coach as well as being given a senior role with the juniors...

Not sure he has the personality to don the Buck or Dusty suit.

I can see that there is a clear divide of opinion on this story.

One set of views based around the fact that Rob Powell is somehow the victim of the extraordinarily poor judgement of Paul Blanchard and David Hughes in being pushed into the job. That he is an organisational man willing to whatever he can for London Rugby League and that he is making his best efforts. That the club should still see him as an asset and support him with maybe someone above him, with the worse case scenario being a new role still at the club.

The problem for that Powell has is that if he leaves London Broncos there is zero chance of him ever being a Super League coach again. No one will care that he was a nice man who helped out in London Rugby League and started new amateur clubs and got on well with Brian Mac and initially the players. They will simply view him as someone who lost 31 of his last 36 games and who with two separate squads was unable to progress. In fact it would be a major surprise if
he would be even considered for any role with a Super League first team and perhaps only Mac would give him a favourable reference. Also, as commented if he leaves London Broncos his career prospects in the region are near zero and financially he may not be able to afford this so he will hang on for dear life.

The thing is, imagine if he had done an interim job for five games. He'd have gone out with a blaze of glory and his stock would be high. If he had gone out midseason last year then he'd be viewed as ok. If he'd gone at the end of last season at the right point he might have been able to rely on mitigating circumstances. And he could have gone a fair number of times last season with a bad record and massacres at Wakey, Cas plus defeats to the Cru, Salford at home and a home thrashing by Hull KR all possible tipping points.

Going into the new season, his stock was back up to a below par level because of charitable sentiment and the excitement of a new squad. However it was very quickly the same old story where a run of about four or five tolerable efforts was followed up by games which would cost you your job if you had a terrible record. Being 40 points to nil down at Salford after an hour and losing at Widnes should have been the end.

My view is that Powell may be an asset to London Rugby League but he is a liability to London Broncos in his role and that it is cowardly for the Board to leave this situation festering, make statements about reviews etc. He should not as a human being be debating his job with the media.

Agree with you Mark.

He should not be expected to just walk away from this job with very little of prospect of getting another. He should be either compensated or given another role.

Pop Pan - I agree with your sentiments but I still feel you cannot walk away from a job when you have a family to feed and bills to pay. His family must be his first priority, as is the case with most people on the planet, surely?

There is life beyond losing your job you know. And life outside Rugby League.

The bloke is spineless and there is a good chance he will go down in history as the man who dragged a club with 30 years of history into the abyss, upsetting a number of passionate supporters. Some won't just shrug their shoulders and go and watch London Skolars when their team is taken away from them. But hey, as long as Powell is collecting 9 months worth of salary, the clubs existence and its supporters are just a minor consideration.

There's been some very balanced and humane posts in this thread and then there's Listers.

Powell is not good enough, that's obvious. It's also obvious that he should never have been put in that position by the inept board and owner.

The club should pay him off and he should find a job perhaps as a development officer with the RFL, or do something else entirely as he hasn't the ability to coach at this level.

heard he did a mean bodypop though

what's so hard.

Quick play the balls.
get the ball to first receiver quickly - or run from dummy half
have deep lying runners
Pass to them once a defender has committed to the ball carrier, unless said ball carrier as footwork to beat defender.
Have receiver run towards gap

(repeat)

I suppose that you're just fishing as usual, but do you have any evidence for this libellous comment?

If the RFL want to help start an amateur club up in the South RP is the ideal man for it. He has the qualifications and experience to do just about everything. Its just a shame there is no vacancy and he has been put in the coach's job at the Broncos instead which for one reason or another is beyond his capabilities.

Theory is easy, coaching isn't and no matter how good a player you might or might not have been it's a very different discipline.

The thing that Powell lacks above everything else is personality. You need to be a leader.

Haha, please tell me you aren't being serious.

Which part do you disagree with? Which part is incorrect?

Sitting on the fence asking the question - whats so bad about him losing the job he is not capable of doing? this happens on a daily occurance in real life. People are losing their jobs all the time and most through no fault of their own. As I have said I have no axe to grind with RP he may be the best bloke out, he may be a great family man but he is a useless coach and that is what he is being paid to do. That is the job he is not capable of and that is the job where he is failing in grand fashion.

Exactly.

The difference is that he has been put in a very public position where all his credibilty and future earnings potential as a coach have been destroyed by being put in a position he should never have been placed in.

No other club would have been stupid enough to have Powell in anything more than an Assistant's Role. The man has been at the club for sometime and I'm sure that whatever selfdoubt he had was taken over by an understandable wish to help.