Without doubt this season has not been what we wanted and like many others want this great club to get better and compete with the best. It grieves me to see comments like "i have supported this club for x amount of years suggesting their opinion is the only way , I have supported this club since the fifties but gives me no right to put anyone down like I have seen .Radford IMO should be given time and this poor season is not just down to him or indeed Pearson who are calling for his head,the same Pearson who has put a lot of cash into the Club and is trying really hard to turn the Club round.There have been many factors why this season has gone pear shaped.If at the start of the season anyone thought we would get to and win the grand final with the squad we have were thinking the impossible,a Wembley appearance was realistic but that goes for almost every super league club with a bit of luck in the draw. We got beat by Salford who on the night played really well and Chase and Fages showed us what a difference good half backs make and there lies the biggest problem. Jacob Miller brought by Gentle clearly was not good enough too inexperienced and lightweight.Horne past his best injury prone. Rankin although not outstanding is the best of the three and should be kept .Arundal, Crookes ,Pitts also not good enough. Mc Donnell for whatever reason shipped out.Long term injuries to Lineham ,watts and green at the start of season,the clear loss of confidence with ben crookes clearly a huge mistake by gentle playing him at Wembley when injured ,fans putting blame on him did not help and every mistake made at start of season had fans calling for him to be left out and when he is dropped its Radfords fault??Sorry to say but certain sections of fans have played the biggest part in his downfall the same fans who caused Craig Halls demise even to the point of booing him in warm ups a real confidence boost ..NOT.Playing all the home games had a small part to play, playing all them home games after each other put more pressure on the players and it showed . I dont agree with the veiws of some who say we have been really poor all seaason we have seen some very good displays like warry and Cas away when with a bit more rub of the green could and should have won.Expectations have been to high in my opinion and the fans should be more realistic ,yes we deserve better then we have now but if we had Sneyd and Pryce this season it would have been much different.We need to now more than ever to get behind th eclub and the players who have given there all in almost every game the backing .If you cannot do that then dont threaten not to get a pass do it.Any kind of weather..if we are winning shamefull

I dont think expectations were that high at the start of the year. Then after the friendlies expectations were even lower. Most on here and that I talk to had us in the 6th to 9th battle. The reality in terms of results is worse.

Yes okay a bit of rub of the green may well have brought us a few extra points in but you make your own luck in this game. (An appreciation that we needed a goal kicker on the park at the start of the year may have eased the pressure now. But that wasn't deemed important as far as I could see). Leeds against Catalans recently proves that. Poorish display but the nowse to pull it off in the last minute.
I think most accepted that the squad under Gentle was not great, but. We got to Wembley beating Catalans in France and Wire in a semi. That showed character and desire. That was the foundations on which this season of transition" should have been built. Instead its all been dismantled and instead of progress we have gone into rapid decline. Wakefield had nothing at the start of the season, they have lost half their ground capacity, severely restricting their income streams and now sit above us in the league. Castleford lost their main man but have improved beyond all recognition. Its not rocket science to realise why.

The reality about IAKOW is that we actually are. Given all that has been served up over the past 5 to 8 seasons it really is a wonder that we still do so incredibly well when it comes to attendances. If we had even a modest amount of success (say like Huddersfield) I would imagine that our average attendance would be 13000+ The 11000 that we will average over the course of this season is amazing in reality.

The fact that we all seem to sit on different sides of the fence is sport in general.

Some of us would never give up our passes would go anywhere to watch the Club and would attend even if we're playing on Picky Park. others watch from afar, because they have to and can't attend but still have that undying love, some criticise on here, others become depressed but we all still have that lasting passion, simply because saddo's like us can do little about it!

That doesn't make us special or top fans in fact it means probably that we are a little demented and don't have enough to do, however it doesn't stop us all being realists; we are worse than last year, we will finish one place off the relegation zone, on the field we seem to lack any ability to win a close game and when the other Clubs around us are doing what they should be and lifting their game at the end of the season we are in decline. That I think for many of us is the reality of things at present, it'll change it always does but everyone who invests their emotions in a sports club has a right to their opinion too!

I'm waiting for a club apologist to post something along the lines of "we can still finish 3rd, maybe even 2nd, COYH"

wilf i agree we do all have the right to an opinion and i have made mine, what i am trying to get over is the facts are to use a old quote "you cannot make a silk purse from a sows ear" Castleford have done exceptionally well because the have Finn ,Sneyd and Daryl Clark in pivitol positions and add to that Huby and Lynch who for some reason we let go,and Shenton who is ripping side up. Finn and Sneyd have an exceptional kicking game something we clearly lack.Do you think Powel would have made the same impact with the squad we started with,i doubt it.Yes the coach always gets the blame and radford is certainly getting the flack ,but its a multiple of reasons we are poor not just Radfords.

Your post is not the easiest to read but what I think you are saying is its no-one's fault, just a combination of circumstances and bad luck and we should all stop moaning and keep shelling out our £?

I think Powell would have done better with this squad than Radford has done (Peter Gentle did a lot better with one similar). It's certainly gonna be hard for the club to sell passes next season, I think you can count on 3 fingers the games where you have come away thinking "yes, that was a great display".

Whats going through Adams mind at the moment?? He stated we would not be satisfied with just a top 8 placing!

My thoughts are that Lee is struggling with game plans and getting the best out of these players, they just don't seem to have any confidence and a good manager instills that in players. I'll be there next year (it's my Friday night out!) the club need my support but I won't be expecting much in the way of trophies!!!

The reality is that Radford for whatever reason is simply not good enough or able to bring the best out the players he has had available. I agree we yet again are struggling in the half back role but we have done for years so thats nothing new.
What I see as evidence that Radford is not up to the job is the fact that yet again week in week out we make the same fundemental and basic errors, certain players that should know better are still having brain farts and costing us in games. Even with the knowledge that we are struggling in the halves we have yet to see the team change its tactics and play a different way to counteract our lack of creativity such as the use of angled runners, dummy runners even simple support play. Too many times it is one out rugby and we look totally lost and bereffed of any idea on the field.

Unfortunately we have heard it all before and Radford has been part of the failed set up for too long and should never have been given the role in the first place.

I agree some may be down to bad luck and/or circumstance but we have gone backwards and such an alarming rate this is more than just circumstance and is down to poor leadership and a guy who is out of his depth at this level and taking us down with him.

Quote ="Graham Richards"=#FF0000I dont think expectations were that high at the start of the year. Then after the friendlies expectations were even lower. Most on here and that I talk to had us in the 6th to 9th battle. The reality in terms of results is worse. '" Most expected us to finish 6th, as it looks we are likely to be 10th-12th Quite interesting to see how people predicted us to finish viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562773&tsmp=1405351460 and viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562621&tsmp=1405351617

Quote ="Graham Richards"=#FF0000I dont think expectations were that high at the start of the year. Then after the friendlies expectations were even lower. Most on here and that I talk to had us in the 6th to 9th battle. The reality in terms of results is worse. '" Most expected us to finish 6th, as it looks we are likely to be 10th-12th Quite interesting to see how people predicted us to finish viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562773&tsmp=1405351460 and viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562621&tsmp=1405351617

Quote ="hullbg"Most expected us to finish 6th, as it looks we are likely to be 10th-12th Quite interesting to see how people predicted us to finish viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562773&tsmp=1405351460 and viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562621&tsmp=1405351617'" Very interesting looking back at what posters tipped,mr philb got the bottom 3 right london bradford and hull,meatpaste was probably the best,along with des lawson,we are all robins. Number 6,hang your head in shame.

Quote ="hullbg"Most expected us to finish 6th, as it looks we are likely to be 10th-12th Quite interesting to see how people predicted us to finish viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562773&tsmp=1405351460 and viewtopic.php?f=34&t=562621&tsmp=1405351617'" Very interesting looking back at what posters tipped,mr philb got the bottom 3 right london bradford and hull,meatpaste was probably the best,along with des lawson,we are all robins. Number 6,hang your head in shame.

I had us down for 6th. Now Radford might not have had everything go his way but what we have done is nowhere near good enough.

He just hasn't addressed any of the issues we've struggled with for years, and in fact he's given us a few new issues to add to the list. Gentle on the other hand, despite making some mistakes, seemed to be taking us slowly in right direction. If Radford was doing the same then I'd be happy with that, but he's not.

Compared to radford, gentle did well,he got the sack will pearson sack radford ? No chance.

And we have had an injury crisis to deal with..........................

Oh no we haven't, just imagine how bad it could have been.

Depressing in the extreme, shouted at the radio thios morning when good old Radders suggested Wigan would bring some physicality !! Sick of listening to him, if he stays please appoint someone to front up the media, we are laughing stock !

Out of his depth. Are the squad performing as well as you would expect consistently? I'd say nowhere near which to me is the sign of a poor coach/manager. He's a rovers fan so maybe he's happy to run us into the ground

He isn't a kr fan.

Gentle only did better when Holdsworth turned up to play, when he didn't we put in some atrocious performances.

People have short memories. Not that that defends Radford's shortcomings.

Didnt DJ have a head injury for 10 weeks?

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

gentle did't have holdsworth the first season he finished 6th with agar's team

The season has been a big disappointment for me. The reality is that we have gone from a team that finished 6th two years in a row and made last years CC Final to a team currently lying in 11th and rapidly losing any chance we have of making the playoffs. I know it's not over until the fat lady sings but I'd say there's more chance of us finishing 12th than finishing 8th. That really is disappointing. We should have made the eight minimum IMO.

the reality i see week in week out is the players making the same fundamental mistakes that are patently not being addressed by the coaching staff. there's no point in radford bleating about how we constantly lose close games. its his job to sort this out, through game management, tactics, discipline etc. i'm also not entirely convinced by the man management of the squad either, but as i am not privy to what goes on in the dressing room i'll reserve judgement on this, but constantly chopping and changing the team and sending players out on loan/duel reg is hardly going to build a tight team spirit

It was a better squad than we have now

Some valid points made by several posters on this thread,but the basic facts are that under radford we have gone backwards at an alarming rate.Week after week random team changes which in itself kills confidence,on the plus side some youngsters showing promise,abdull and lancaster especially though,as a fellow poster said radford chose to bring colbon in rather than give lancaster the chance till colbon got injured.The facts are we expected to finish 5th to 8th and look booked for 12th,can anyone tell me a half decent coach couldn't have done a better job than radford,lets face it its almost impossible to have done worse with bradfords points deduction.

Brilliant analysis -IMO.

I would also add, IF Darryl Powell was offered to swap our playing personnel for Castleford's players.
he would take our squad in a heartbeat., our players have a lot more calibre than Cas.