Like it or not it seems that Pearson was not happy with how things were being run off the pitch during Gentle's reign. He's alluded to it several times before. Gentle did OK by getting us to Wembley - the Wire semi final was a brilliant day to be a fan of the club. But the final and the play off disaster were indicative of how this club has been for so long. Clearly Pearson didn't believe Gentle's style and management were going to change things and he believes Radford can. Don't know if he's right or not but it'd be better for us all if he was.

Why not? Or do you want everyone to be negative like you? Squads are improving each season so teams are harder to beat...but sack the coach as the fan who dosent go to games said...give yourself a nip pal!

Indeed. And plenty of coaches in all team sports manage to make a positive difference with inherited squads.

east hullfc fan, I fully support your right to have an opinion, but find it ironic that the other day you accused someone of having a photo of Jacob Miller at their bedside just because they had shown support for the lad. Seems to me that the only person around here with a crush is you- on Lee Radford.
I'm prepared to give him a chance, but agree with other posters that he needs to at least match last years league finish and cup run to justify Gentle's sacking

sorry if this has been mentioned but radford seemed to be having a pop at the long term players in the HDM today. basically the same players making the same mistakes year on year, and will be still here making these same mistakes after he's left. is he referring to horne, yeaman, whiting, houghton? these are our long serving players who were on the pitch sunday. or is he referring to newer recruits. so far he has dropped crooks and shaul and ignored miller and pitts, but who are the players he is referring to in the article. his quote is
Radford said: "It's the same blokes and old habits. Is it ingrained in them? Who knows?"

if its the same old blokes and mistakes, then drop them. they can't make the mistakes then can they?

i notice that he's had a direct go at yeaman in the article - unusual for a coach to do this in the media

Not my type his lugs are too big......but radders as played & won a lot of medals in his career & i was coached by him for almost 10 seasons, albeit been at yorkshire league & conference rugby, but know he is very smart all round about the game we love, i know hes in a top professional role now & will make mistakes but know he will put every bit of effort to stick to what hes set out to do, miller as doe nothing in the game i understand hes young but from what i have seen of him he imo has not what it takes to do a job for us, like i said before i hope if he ever gets a chance he proves me wrong..because i would rather be wrong if he is to make our team tick..but the people who matter most at our club know he hasnt.

Wayne Bennett hasn't got a drawer full of medals from his playing days but he's 10 times the coach Radford will ever be.

his squad is just a tad better then ours..only a bit though, wonder how he would do with gloucester all golds??

No it isn't but its a start. 4 is better than 0.

Why play the under 19s in any pre season friendly?

Maybe to see what they are like taking the next step up.

I'll try and make this not sound like a knee jerk reaction to yesterday

We've gone from putting in a battling loss at Saints (undefeated and look a very good team) to yesterday.
Widnes didn't produce much themselves and were there for the taking

I personally feel Radford use of players coming off the bench has been questionable, yesterday Hadley was unused which is baffling when we are low on props and Ellis is playing there (understandably) and Crooks on the bench was really baffling. the 2 games previous he had Rankin coming on for the last 20 meters, why? that should be the spot Azza has (coming on sooner and for longer) and either Rankin or Miller in the halves. why have a player on the bench who will swap as FB or HB towards the end?

at the risk of being accused of knowing knack all about the game, why put a player on the bench and not use him, especially when he's a forward and the conditions are poor and players are tired, even just to give someone a ten minute breather?

also if ever a day called for 4 forwards on the bench that was it (accepted the weather was a bit worse than forecast, but i knew roughly what was coming 3 days beforehand)

Putting a centre on the bench who's confidence is shot was a strange decision
And having an unused sub is just bizarre and reeks of a amateur coach
I'm not sure Radford knows what he's doing and Pearson even less.
Long season ahead but no risk of relegation just the prospect of playing the likes of Leigh And Doncaster when the leagues split next season is not too appealing.

Not by playing all of them. Clearly not all will be good enough. You'll find out how players are likely to go by bringing one or two in and having the support of experienced players around them. HTW playing with the rest of the 19's against men albeit from the championship isn't giving him a chance. Playing him behind a decent and experienced pack with an experienced partner would tell you a lot more.

Both something Agar did. Sharp was winger but when his confidence had gone he was brought on late in games like a cameo player. He also made strange interchanges and plenty of times never used some of them.

Is this something Radford has picked up from his time playing under Agar?

If Shaul was injured late on, then Rankin's move to fullback would not have been planned.

So Feka, Thomson, Hadley, Kent and Crooks for 4 subs positions.

Picking Crooks was an odd choice, but maybe Radford didn't expect us to throw away 20+ points,
so he was picked to give him a bit more game time in a match we should have won.

If Shaul had been fit then Crooks wouldn't have played.

Pure speculation of course, but no worse than suggesting Agar's methods are now being used.

Squads aren't improving at all. Overall in SL they're getting worse. Only Saints and Salford really improved.

Exactly right. And the bit about HTW can also be applied to Miller in preseason. He was always going to compare unfavourably to Horne/Rankin/Heremaia when he was the one playing behind a pack of teenagers whilst the others got to play behind Ellis & co. Similar story for Arundel, too.

Not hearing much positive stuff about the landlord running our team. Worrying times.

Friday, will be an interesting test for Radford.

How will the players react,after an abysmal performance?

Also, the team selection will be interesting.

Huge test, Radford has made a few mistakes already this year, will he learn from them and get it right.

Lose the next two (which they is a good chance IMO) and Pearson might not have much of a choice as our season will be practically over.

It was a very poor appointment from day one.

Radford will walk before being pushed.

Lose Friday and the gates start to drop in fact I reckon we will struggle to get over 10k as things stand now. Radford may or may not be the right man for the job, but yet another sacking will do this and next season no good fans will leave in droves.

We have been unlucky with injuries and suspensions, we have to ride it out because there is no other way now.

I guess it has to be Radford's fault, especially with Paea, Carvell, Lineham, Green, Bowden, McDonnell, Ellis, Crookes, Shaul, HTW missing.

Pre-season was very poor with hammerings at Bradford & humiliation against Featherstone.

Defeats to Wire and Saints acceptable and for me surprisingly close for a average SL side so luckily we played them early.

Bradford very poor side, Catalan started the season badly leading up to the Hudds game and that could have being very easily a draw.

Then strange team selection which resulted in a unused sub against Widnes and a centre on the bench 0-7 defeat on your home turf.

Yes I blame Radford and the fact as promised he hasn't changed the culture at the club, injuries are part and parcel of the game just ask Betts.