Ben Gledhill has signed a 3 year deal for Salford according to Sky sports, a big loss in my opinion, a real raw talent which we never utalised this year, good luck Ben thanks for your loyalty mate, I only hope we don't replace him with Fozzard, that would be a real backward step

Don't worry we'll have Fozzard or Ewan Dowes soon to replace him.

I hope not

Loyalty?

Dowes will be a great replacement for Hendo, ED's a real workhorse prop, someone who won't let us down.

Trout will take the step up which I honestly think BG's failed to take.
I hold no grudge & wish the lad the best of luck- but as I say IMO you've never fulfilled on the promise.

I think the loyalty was both ways, we have stuck with Ben who has not kicked on for two seasons as was expected. It's not a major loss at all and Ben at this stage of his career is replaceable.

I agree with you about him not kicking on and is no major loss, but I'm struggling to see much evidence of loyalty. He left Cas academy to come to us, and now he's gone to Salford because he wasn't happy here. All by the age of 22! He's hardly Jonny Thomspon is he?!

I'll second this view

Agreed, hardly set the world on fire when he has played and obviously has a higher opinion of himself than others do. I'd have offered him a one year contract and see if he could cement a place with some good competition around him. All the best to the lad but I've never really seen anything to rave about apart from the game at HKR which in honesty got blown well out of proportion. A lot on here will be disappointed just because he's from Wakey and has played at Westgate but if he is to be replaced with a better standard of player then I'm happy with that.

And if he's replaced by Fozzard or someone similar will you still feel the same? what about paying Hickey for sod all this season now i don't believe for one minute these guys are a better option than Ben, do you, its a difficult one for me to understand but if he feels he needs to be away and the club feel he should leave then so be it.

Just don't like to see homegrown players leaving.

Good luck Ben.

I don't like seeing l;ocal Wakefield lads leaving but if i am being honest I don't care where players are from so long as they are the best available to the club.

Cannot see how anyone can question loyalty if they knew how Ben had been treat by both the club and especially elston, Ben will kick on from here guaranteed and just like the rest we let go then slagged off it will bite us in theass

Think some are too emtionally attatched just because theyve seen him come through the ranks at Westgate then get a chance (which he's failed to make the most of for one reason or another) here at his hometown Pro club. For what its worth I'd be very surprised should we sign Foz. I slated Hickey when he first came over and still stand by what I said but with a good off season behind him and back up to full fitness then yes I believe he'll be three or four times the player Gledhill is. Gledhill has time on his side but I haven't seen anything that makes me disappointed he's leaving, just because he's local doesn't give him a God given right to a contract.

Anyone can question loyalty but unless they/we know the facts its pointless either way.

Spoke to Ben last last week and he remained dignified about staying/leaving and although he may have private thoughts on the matter never said anything out of turn.

I don't know the facts and i would class myself as a familly friend so i am probably a little biased.

? explain and also how badly treated was he at cas who were his first choice rather than us!

Yes so would i but you get my point.

I'm glad you are happy to right off a few thousand quid in wasted wages while our juniors get better deals offered at other clubs.

No thats true but neither does being an overweight Aussie



You are correct Kev i do care and that clouds judements at times.

Can't speak for Ben in this case but i've seen loads of young lads beg to go to Cas and even Hudds and Leeds before they would come to Wakey, its been like that for years, i think it is changing thankfully.

Most of ther juniors i coached legged it to other clubs sadly.

Like I said Al I was disgusted with the state Hickey turned up in. He can still come good though. I've stated also that I'd have offered Ben another year to see if he can kick on and cement a place. The whole idea of 1873 is to set up a great youth set up and to nurture these lads for first team a la Saints Wigan etc. The timings been wrong for Gledhill but these things happen, who knows he may return for a second stint a much improved player, stranger things have happened.

Isn't it an open secret amongst the RL fraternity that for many years, WTW was the club you would play at if you couldn't get a deal elsewhere? I've heard that from several former players and a current senior executive at a very high profile club.

If AG can turn that particular tanker, he'll have done a great job.

Too true and i'm sure thats already changed and will continue to improve, its a massive step forward.

I'll be honest, if T Drury and that coaching staff feel Ben should be moving on then i can accept it, if someone else made this decision then i can't and won't accept it.

If a new coach comes in and looks at the players, he may decide he can work with this player or he decide he can't better him and let him move on, my issue is with whos made this call.

It could well just be down to money and a decent deal for Ben so i guess we'll never know.

Good luck to him..Not really given a proper run in the team IMHO...

Would be much happier if we signed Dowes than Fozzard...

Let's hope we help bring his brothers through instead of losing those to other clubs also. Good luck to Ben and let's see what he can do under a different coach. I may be made to eat my words but I think for reds to offer him a far better contract they must see something. I remember when peacock went to featherstone and everyone wrote him off and look how good he turned out to be.

Now we need to not sign Foz, get hickey fit quick and look for a new prop but not dowes IMO. Want to see how spiers does this year.

In my dealings with Elston I have always found him cold, calculating and a little aggressive - things you'd want in a CEO.

Now I don't know the ins and outs of Bens case, he may well have been badly treated. So this post is not about him as such.

That said I'm getting a bit tired of all this young player loyalty stuff as it all seems a bit one way to me. Every time a player doesn't get what he wants he or a relative or friend blame the club. It's always the club isn't it, never the player. This despite the fact that as in all walks of life some are thick, greedy, deluded liars these young lads are not all sporting monks ffs. Like start struck sheep fans always seem to take the players side, no matter how crap some of them actually are both as players and people - any chance to have a go at the evil club.

Dealing with players, their parents and agents is a minefield and requires a certain toughness. Because according to some of those people especially the dad there lad is the greatest talent ever to appear at BV.

I have had dealings with two club chairman. I won't use Ted as an example for obvious reasons though I can assure you he knew how to deal with players. The other one was Richard Evans who was the Fev Chairman in the 1980's - 90's and was considered a very honourable man.

He told me once that they were looking at a lad playing open age, not a kid he was nearly 20. Fev were willing to offer him a trial, he arrived demanding amongst other things a free car! When Richard said no the lads dad took a swing at him. After being kicked out he and his cohorts went about complaining that Fev were wanting him to play for nothing etc etc whilst all he wanted was a chance. Surprise surprise a lot of fans believed him. To mend fences Fev gave him a trial and guess what, he was a total dobbin.

Put simply you just can't please every one but it is worth remembering there are always two sides to these stories and the clubs usually get it more right than wrong.

I wish him all the best, time will tell if we have missed a trick. Probably means we need to find two props now though for next season as Spiers and Trout (if he's signed) need bringing through and developing gradually. I'd have no issue with Dowes, he's a solid superleague standard prop that will do a decent job for us for a couple of years. I just hope we don't go for Fozzard, we'd be lucky to get ten games out of him.