This is exactly what those who blame the players and the club culture are ignoring. We have underperformed under a succession of poor coaches. No shiit sherlock, who would have thought that would happen? Yes, we have some dross in the team but if the players play to their potential then we are much better than we are currently. Culture is a top down thing and we need the right man at the helm to achieve it. There are plenty of examples in all sports of where a new manager/coach has come into a club and transformed it over night. We may need 5 years under such a coach to be genuine contenders but 5 weeks under the right man would make a world of difference

People are blind if they don't see what's happened at Cas? They were last year under Powell, one thing changed at that club, they got rid of Chase.

Smith took over at Leeds and won the grand final in his first year. He took over Wire and won the Challenge cup in his first year. I wouldn't mind him having a go at proving he isn't the answer. I reckon we would be performing a whole lot better than we are under the current amateur running the team.

Hang on a minute. On the one hand you're saying that Radford needs five years to succeed but on the other you think Cas's struggles were down to one man? So Cas had everything right already to break into the top 3 and it was all Chase's fault that they hadn't? Bet Millward's kicking himself.

Excuse me while I put my thumb to my nose whilst waggling my fingers and blowing a big raspberry.

Top 3? Season over is it?

How many players did Cas sign in the off season? Chase was everything that was wrong with that club, culture wise. We have a slightly different problem, but the same cultural issues. Are you surprised the likes of Morley, Hansen, Puletua and Meli, all from clubs where there is a culture of success, are now in a team with 'cultural issues'? Salford now have the same problem Cas had for years.
Fine, change the coach, it won't matter. No matter who's in charge the same issues will continue to arise. People seem to think we have this great squad that could do so much better with a different coach, no we won't, the squads not that good.

Radford 5 years...seriously need to shake your head and think the guy just hasn't got what it takes and never will.. 5 years with this clown in charge and this club will be dead and buried for another 5 trying to get out of the championship/div 2 SL2 or whatever other moniker you want to give it..

If Pearson doesn't get shot now then watch how many passholders will not re-new, they'll leave in droves..AP cannot afford to do that, the club cannot afford to keep Radford at the helm and in fact with Pearson making such utterly stupid decisions he is making the club decline by his own hands..
I'm not up again until July but if Radford isn't gone I'm seriously thinking of not attending the next home game that coincides with my visit...it was bad enough under Agar..I actually think we are deeper do-do under Radford

No one has said we have a great squad, all they have alluded too is that we have a squad that should be performing better. And that is down to the coaching or lack of in our case. A better coach would manage the players differently and get the optimum out of the current resources.
In your blind faith to give Radford time and using cas as your example you seem to forget that Powell took over mid way through the season and almost immediately transformed cas playing wise with improved results and that was with Chase. All Chase leaving has done is allow cap funds to be distributed accordingly where he feels the need to strengthen. A problem I don't believe we have to that extent. Hence proving what a better coach can do with limited resources, not unlike ourselves.

We are declining once more at Agaresque proportions and all giving Radford more time will do is further destroy the club heightening the decline in attendances.
He is not the right man for the job currently and no amount of patience or time will prove different, especially as relegation is now a consequence.

That would be the period when Wigan sacked Ian Millward and replaced him with Brian Noble because they were in danger of relegation. Not the best example to pick to support your argument TBH. A better one might have been Leeds a decade or so ago.

The problem being that both clubs had recent periods of success to look back on. We don't, and fans are fed up of being asked to 'be patient' after years and years of the same. Personally I don't disagree with your assessment of the timescale involved but I don't believe Radford is the man to be entrusted with the critically important job of rebuilding this team from the ground up.

Powell didn't take over until May 2013, at which point Cas were bottom of the table with 1 win in 18 thanks to Millward. In the remaining fixtures he managed 8 wins and got them up to 12th, well ahead of the bottom two sides. I'd say his appointment brought a pretty immediate improvement to the side TBH.

Well I've just received my abusive PM from Radford's best mate. The sooner he's banned again, the better.

We need to clear out the whole of the coaching set up and (eventually) all of the players who have been involved during this frustrating period. The fact that 'just' changing the coach won't rectify the problems is not a reason to persist with a man who clearly isn't up to the job. For five years.

It is vitally important that the person charged with rebuilding the club/squad is capable of doing so, and that he is capable of getting the best out of the group of players at his disposal until changes can be made.



I haven't seen a single poster say that we have a 'great squad'. Not one. What most are saying is that the squad ought to be doing better than is currently the case. A good coach/manager would be achieving that. Look at what Tony Pulis did at Palace this year. They were one of the favourites to go down when he took over and hadn't been out of the bottom three for most of the season. He got them organised and playing for each other and managed an 11th place finish. A pretty immediate improvement without anything like a 'great squad'.

A good coach and 4 good signings would make us a top 4 side within 2 years, the gap isn't that big as Hudds, Cas and Saints have shown.

Warrington also did in a few years ago, Smith took over in the March 2009, they finished 10th that year, the next season they finished 3rd and have not been out of the top 3 since.

I don't disagree, but we seem to be struggling to even make above average signings, let alone good one's!

Sa is a good signing, if it happens, just 3 more IMO, two are halfbacks though which is a real problem.

Sa is bang on the below average marker.

You normally talk a decent amount of sense, but this is a bad post

Here here.

Powell made a huge difference at cas,dragging them from wooden spooners to mid table with the same players millward had failed miserably with.Coaches need the tools to work with but radford is clueless,after all this season he dont have the foggiest which is his strongest team,chopping and changing all the time except for his favourites.Confidence is built on having an extended run in the team,building partnerships and understanding with fellow players,not looking at the team sheet wondering if its your turn to be dropped. Being outcoached by fans favourite agar and his team of stars,just about says it all.

I'm not sure AP will be patient enough to allow him 5 years. The fans certainly won't be. We've had our first below 10k home attendances for years this year, people are glad that they can now pay for passes for 2015 in instalments but are already questioning whether they are going to bother at all. Much more of the type of performance that we've seen in the last 3 weeks and people will start voting with their feet. Will AP be forced to make changes if revenue drops significantly? Of course he will.

The whole club needs a shake up, and AP needs to set out that we can pretty much forget challenging for the next few years until that's done. We've seen it before of course, but a proper 5 year plan needs to be set out and sold to the fans, who must buy in to it.

Perhaps a "rev-hull-ution"

[qubetter than what's at the club n"Dave K."Sa is a good signing, if it happens, just 3 more IMO, two are halfbacks though which is a real problem.'"

Do you really believe that?? Up until this post I thought you had made some valid points in the discussion.

Powell has made a massive impact since he took over the Head Coach role at Cas last May after they sacked Millward. They had only won one game and were bottom until he took over and got them winning and achieved 12th place with a gap between the bottom 2 (8pts more the London in 13th).
Cas are not blessed with a squad of stars similarly to ourselves however Powell has managed to raise the performances from each player and made them into a team.

This is evidence that if you get a decent coach in they can make an impact and improve things pretty quickly with the same group of players no matter how good bad or indifferent they are.

The evidence so far with Radford suggest to me quite strongly he is not currently the right man for the job, I believe perfomances are poorer generally than previously and we still are making the same basic & fundemental mistakes and errors. Plus Radford has been part of the melaise both as as a player and assistant which for me was another major issue when appointing him as Head Coach.

There is not so much wrong woth the club that Radford (or anyone) needs 5 years to put it right. This is a club that last year finished 6th and made the Challenge Cup Final. Arguably the squad is stronger than last year so I don't see why AP or the fans should have to put up with it going backwards for a couple of years before it can improve on recent years' results.

AP has said that passholder revenue is absolutely crucial to the club. Most people will be buying their passes in the next 4-6 months. If the season tails off badly and we miss out on the play offs this will badly impact on sales and on our ability to recruit quality signings.

If Radford can turn things around and we finish strongly that may give him another season. However if things continue as they are AP will need to do something to appease the fans and the obvious thing will be to replace the coach. He wasn't very patient with Gentle and he was fairly trigger happy when it came to replacing managers at Hull City so Radford may get until the end of the season (if only due to a lack of obvious replacements) but then he'll be gone.

Right, let's get one thing straight, I'm not pro Radford or putting down what Powell has done at Cas. I'm making the point that whoever is in charge will need 5 years to change this club fully. We're not a 'half decent coach and 4 players away from top 4' we're miles off. It will take a full stripping down of the current playing squad and that will take 3 off seasons of heavy recruitment. Not one of our 17 on Saturday, except for Westerman would command a starting spot in any of the Leeds/Wigan/Saints/Wire teams and only Lineham of those that didn't start.

You're fooling yourselves if you think changing the coach every time we hit a rough patch during this process is a good thing. AP's chose his man to do this in my opinion. We change coach now or at the end of they year or even next year, we'll be in the same position 12-18 months later.

We have a great set of juniors coming through, something to build this club on, alongside the likes of Westy, Lineham, Shaul, Crooks, Bowden, Green & Hadley

And that's as much as we'll ever achieve unless fundamental changes are made.

You may be right but there are economic realities to consider. With lower season pass sales and falling attendances there won't be the revenue to sign good players or keep those you refer to. How long is AP prepared to contiune subsidising the club year after year? He bought the club to make money, not to lose it.