Biggest nistake made was to give Agar a 3 year contract. He should have been given a one year deal to see how he performed. Lets face it he had no where else to go and would have had to accept it.

i totally agree. it smacks of naivety. yes we want stability, yes we want the same coach for three years, but only if he's performing. it’s also inconsisten with how we're operating elsewhere; look at the smith signing, he’s got nowhere else to go, we’ve given him a chance to show his worth, with minimal risk to us. why not the same for a head coach who probably wouldn't get a gig elsewhere?

You're obviously a big fan of JE and RA, also you also are being naive.
The fact is that our club survived by the skin of its teeth 12 months ago and achieved a SL licence by the skin of its teeth.
As fans, we love the club and would do anything to see it prosper.
However, as a future coach, the situation is that we are pretty much at the bottom of the pile and as such we would struggle to entice the very best players or coaches to our club.
No doubt, we ARE on the up and when there are more tangible signs of growth and stability, we will be in a better position to attract a different level of player.
We have a significantly stronger playing staff than last term and that is down to the hard work of Mr Glover plus, the 2 people that you seem to have a problem with.
Everybody would like us to have played 6 and won 6, but this was never going to happen.

If we had given RA a 12 month deal and then have a great season, do you think the only knock on his door would be from our guys offreing to extend his contract ?
Get real and SUPPORT the club.

the fact that club survived in the top flight by the skin of its teeth is not lost on me. however i fail to see why that fact alone invalidates the points that i and other have put forward.

agar did nothing at hull to warrant a 3 year deal, a one year deal which could have been upgraded at any point should he be doing well is clearly more favourable than what we've done.

to suggest that i don't support the club shows the limit of your appetite for debate and discussion.

The inferrance that you dont support the club is purely because, after just 5 games, you are having a go at JE and RA and not supporting them.
A 1 year contract for any coach would not encourage them to come to any club, unless it was someone new to coaching, who was trying to prove themselves and although there may have been this type of candidate, I dont think RA falls into that group at all.
We need stability and some growth before we can recruit marquee players, so for this season we go with what we have and look to improve during each of the 3 seasons within the franchise period.
If the fans support the management, coaching staff and players they will perform better that if they are constantly getting grief form all quarters.

i am not having a go at either james elston or richard agar. i am merely playing through a possible and not totally unrealistic scenario. much in the same way we do when we say, if warrington get a good lead in the first 50 minutes on sunday i see no way back for us.

richard agar was not exactly in demand, what do you suppose his other options were? humour me.

i don't think that either agar or elston are getting any grief of any size on here. i do think however that it will come pretty quickly for agar should results continue in the same manner as they are doing. the players seem well motivated and confident despite our run of losses, if we lose the next two or three games then i think morale will suffer in the squad and on the terraces too.

i too see some big improvements in the club, but to pretend that blind faith in the club and it's employees (of which elston and agar are two) is the way we're going to get the best for wakefield trinity would suggest you've forgotten how we got in this position in the first place.

like all trinity fans i want the best for the club, and for the supporters. at least we can agree on that?

Absolutely agree, together we ARE stronger

My memory must not be what I thought because I seem to remember Pearson had already relieved Agar of his coaching duties at Hull and his career over there was hanging by a thread. I also remember every other SL club had got their man and the only SL coaching job open was at wakey. It was a buyers market and if Agar wanted another SL job he could have had the choice of us or the dole.

Lets face it he hardly had a good track record. A one year 'probationary' deal was the way to go.

Obviously he is highly thought of by Messers Glover & Elston. Maybe you should ask them why, although I i've said, it certainly gives a level of stability to the club, which is better than chopping and changing.

Well if all we're doing is exploring hypothetical situations, errrrr... he could have taken that director of rugby job that Adam Pearson allegedly didn't offer him when he told the world that Agar wouldn't be leaving Hull FC for Wakefield... he still had another year of his contract to run.

OK I see your point. Also like you I want the best for the club so lets hope that come the end of the season we don't have to chop and change to move forward.

Agreed

I'm still not sure if i read the thread title correctly? James Elston is doing a fine job and as far as i can see has assembled a promising squad. There will be one or two who may not live upto some people's expectations but that's the same at any SL team.

I don't believe he wanted to be in charge for recruiting, but such was the position we were in (no head coach) he had no other choice especially considering Widnes had a blank canvas to work from and were competing for similar players.

The club as a whole is steadily improving in the majority of area's, there's still work to be done, but it's moving in the right direction. 2 or 3 results haven't gone our way and we've area's within our team which will need improvement, but guess what, that's professional sport!

It was said tongue in cheek to provoke a reaction from one or two of you lot, seems like it worked hehe

Its not obvious at all. JE signed RA and AG is relying on that. Andrew knows nothing about rugby league or RA coaching abilities.

Its Elstons call, along with most of the signings, If Agar fails he'll blame the fact he did not sign is own players.

3 years is just crazy and no other club would have offered Agar that, would they.

If you look at the club now, a year on from club 1873 taking over. James Elston is doing a fantastic job! nearly 9,000 for a game against Huddersfield?? unheard of in living memory!

Agree, the situation we found ourselves in going from not being in SL to getting the nod, was not the most ideal situation as far as planning and recruiting for this season but when all said and done we've ended up with a decent squad, albeit with one and two missing pieces and I personally feel very optimistic abut the future and direction the club is heading.

it has already been stated but i couldnt agree more, this season was and is about building. pick up wins where we can and expect solid performances, but there shouldnt be any pressure put on agar or elston at this moment in time.. i think personally it will all come together in the next couple of years and well have the best wakefield side for a long time. not only that, from what i know all the work done in the background is improving and the attendances getting higher, i think we really can look towards a brighter future

I think this is a classic example of a decision being made which was extremely foolish and naive. No matter how this season or next goes for you guys, Agar will be here to stay because I would assume that they are probably paying him £100k a year, and it would be a hefty pay out to get rid if it came to it......he is there to stay !

wait until next month when Kath Hetherington is on the board........

Every decision this club makes should be questioned otherwise we'll end up as we did under the last regime looking at the board with gooey eyes in hopes of getting invited into the inner circle. Together we are stronger? Trust no-one.

Apart from Noble, who were the other SL standard coaches who applied for the job? The fans' favourite was obviously installed at Hull, one of the other favourite candidates went to Cas. Looking lower down the ladder, Bobbie Goulding was in the frame, I seem to remember, and Jimmy Lowes might have submitted his cv too. Would they have been preferable? Who were the others? What were their demands, in terms of wages and money to spend on players/backroom staff?

Agar on a 3 year deal may seem daft on the face of it, but he may still be cheaper to fire if he fails after a year than some of the other options. If Hull really wanted rid, they probably paid out on some of the remainder of his contract. And what if it works out for him and us at Trinity? We'd be kicking ourselves if we'd only signed him on a 1 year deal.

Too many imponderables, IMO, and without knowing the full facts, it's unfair to judge. Like most other people on here, I didn't want Agar as head coach, simply based on his league table achievements with Hull. I have no idea what else went on, and I doubt many others do either. A club like Hull with big expectations would surely have sacked him much earlier if they didn't think he had a chance of changing things around.

Just give the guy a fair chance.

Yes Hull paid him off and that was the reason for delaying the announcement.

Not knocking him just commenting we should not have been as rash to offer him a three year deal when a much shorter contract would have secured his services and given the club a bit of 'insurance'. After all its the clubs interest that should come first.

Anyhow time will tell if this was a sensible deal but I still think it was a risk that there was no reason whatsoever to take and the only logical reason I think it was done is something I will keep to myself for now.

Didn't want Agar, still don't really, but he's here and we may as well get behind him and give him a chance. Yes maybe a two year deal would have been better but so be it. If we are still struggling by the end of june then maybe we can get vocal but til then lets see what he can do.

The problem for you here is that under the old regime of Kath Hetherington et al, Pearson is quoted as saying that Hull FC were being run as a bottom four club.
Hetherington may have had her own agenda, but Pearson seems to have seen it for what it was and took action to change things. One of these actions was to get rid of RA. Read into this what you will.