All I've seen directed at him is more timid than the personal abuse I've received on here from some so called fans

There is still this thing about who saved us at the end of last season,some saying it was Willie Poching,some saying it was a group of players who took things into their own hands.It has significance in determining whether the board made the right decision to sack Willie at the time and the ensuing consequences for this season.Wish someone could give the definitive answer.(not that it changes anything,just cos I'd like to know).

He shouldn’t get personal abuse, and unless he himself has made it personal by his words and actions on the platforms available and used by him then there’s no justification for it.

That said I’ve never seen any personal abuse aimed at him, yes I’ve seen heavy criticism of him and some harsh assessments of his personality traits but nothing that borders on abuse, unless your going by the modern day definition where wearing the wrong coloured tie can be termed abusive.

What I have seen is comments by Carter saying he’s had personal abuse and if true it’s out of order but I’ve never seen it or any proof of it other than Carters own comments

My views on the incumbents and coach are well known and in both cases I have never personally insulted either. I think all have been a disaster this season and each are equally responsible for our relegation.

Clearly Applegarth needed to be better but for me a lot of this is down to 3 or 4 players.
Whether you blame them or the recruitment is up to you but Proctor, Atoni, Taufua and to a certain extent Gaskill were big disappointments.

By far the no.1 is Proctor who has a better CV than any other player in Super League and was a current NRL player but has been the lowest quality player in the squad. If he'd played like a marquee player should, we'd have made a bigger impact.

Atoni, though he did improve with Fifita shouldn't need to be motivated to put effort in. He should have been pulling up trees but was miles off.

Taufua was a wasted signing but again as an overseas player with a good cv in NRL, he was behind Lineham in quality which is just ridiculous.

We either didn't do our homework or we were conned big time.
Starting with those players and then Murphy, Tanginoa and Jowitt getting long term injuries just set us up to fail.

Players like Ashurst and Kay may not be world beaters but they probably played at their capabilities. They should have been following the big guns, not leading the team.

We'll never know whether Mash could have done better with better players but it all just went wrong.

Fifita along with Gale and a couple of others gave us a couple of highlights but ultimately we were relegated because we lost to Cas twice. Big games where we needed big players to stand up and they didn't.

Hard to argue with any of that, PT

That squad that was Assembled may not have been the best in super league but should have been far more competitive than our results have shown . The standard of rugby has been nothing short of embarrassing from start to finish .For me mash gets the blame for the outstandingly poor game plans and the one out rugby that is so easily defended against , the players for their poor standards which never got better the longer the season went on and finally our leaders for not swallowing their pride and at times arrogance and not wielding the axe on coach and players earlier to prevent this catastrophe. At the same time I feel an overwhelming sense of relief after the final whistle and not sadness , as the club will move on from this and hopefully learn big lessons and come back stronger and not be perennial wooden spooners

But that's the problem.
The squad on paper was OK but big players weren't available for much of it like Jowitt and Tanginoa and some just didn't perform like Proctor and Atoni.
That isn't Mash.

He has other things to carry blame for but no coach can solve those two things and for a team with small squad like ours, that is massive.

Nobody should be subject to personal abuse, in any way.

However, vast majority I've seen is criticism and not what I'd class as abuse.

I have actually been reading some old posts, and an ex poster on here wasn't slow either, so some of it maybe tit for tat

Unfortunately the book does stop with Applegarth, whether that be fair or not.

I'd go with that the book does stop with the coach, he puts them out to play a certain way if they can't it's down to him and as for injuries all teams get them, adapt and change the style of play. The book stops with ceo and the rest of the board for the rest of the shambles

Mash knew what was install for him regarding the difficulty of the job, huge player turnover and limited funds. You wouldn’t take the job if you weren’t confident in your coaching ability as this could be his only chance as a head coach. Poor recruitment and selecting inconsistent players consistently is a major factor. Proctor should of been left to rot in the stands for the majority of the year. We have had a lot of injuries especially to our spine, but does that justify our record nillings and just pure crap we have dished out.

Would another coach of saved us, we’ll never know but Cas chanced their arm 3 times and it looks like it’s saved them. Would cas of best Hull FC the way they did 2 month ago, I doubt it.

Apologies for pedant mode but:

It's the buck as in the US Dollar.

i'm not one for constantly slagging of the club owners - I doubt whether most of the comments made about them on here are accurate BUT there in little doubt in my mind that MA should have walked a long time ago.
We have no attacking flair, and haven't had for 90% of the games.
Our rugby is unattractive to the point of boring. Team selection is puzzling and it was blatantly obvious midway through the season that a new approach was needed.
Well we've paid the ultimate price and anyone who thinks we still have a chance of staying up is deluded.
I have to agree that the decision not to replace MA lies with the BOD.
It may have cost money to pay him off, but the price not relieve him of his duties, will be much higher I fear.

Persistently play Proctor when it was obvious that he was not performing was surely down to Mash and similarly with Atoni. What do we have an A team for?

If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find them, you could hire the A team!


Showing my age!

Crass. What have YOU done Willzay to keep it in SL? Whine & moan - shyster!

Oh look the know it all pr!ck who only comes on here to give “advice” because it’s team is doing well. If you think Applegarth is a good coach get on the phone to Derek to give him a job.

Put a bit of bling on the big bopper and you have Mr T.

Won'tzay -you didn't even attempt to answer the question. So let's suppose that the answer would have been "Sweet Fanny Adams".

To be honest you do come across as a grade ‘A’ prat. It’s nowt to do with you. Feel free to disappear back down the hole you crawled out of last season.

Correct the team on paper was ok ,but have under performed spectacularly, no heart no desire no passion or pride for the shirt , just players going through the motions and a coach who has been happy to let this happen instead of wielding the axe . Would we have been any worse without our overseas contingent ,I’d say no yet they were still put into the team week in week out ,when it was plain for all to see that they were unfit for purpose . All academic now as we are on our way down but I honestly feel if Brian Smith had been given the time and resources we would have been looking at a far more competitive team than the one that has got us relegated without so much as a whimper , the word embarrassment springs to mind watching our great club bow out of super league in such spectacular fashion (sarcasm)

You are right the team on paper did look ok , for most there was just the problem that age had overtook most of them .The team on paper would have gone well in S L, 4 year ago ,but now no speed in legs ,more chance of been injured , as turned the team in to what we are now a championship team ,And at present not a very good one

In the case I’d proctor most definitely ,time has caught up with him spectacularly, but I’d argue that it’s not the age but attitude and passion and lack of outright skill are more of a factor in our players poor performances than age ever has done

I’m sure I saw an interview with M A saying he hoped to have Bowden and Whitbread back, and hopefully Dave will be ok. Doesn’t he know he’s gone.