Regardless of financing it, that's part of the problem, there isn't anywhere. Believe me, the club have been looking for quite a while, so have the community trust.

The OP makes some valid points which the club could do well to take on board. At this time when the club finds itself in a dire financial situation they need every penny they can get so treating sponsors well so they continue their sponsorship down the line is a good start. At the end of the day though the be all and end all is that the club needs some new blood to come in and help get the club back on a sound financial footing, unfortunatley we will stuggle to do that until the current mess is sorted out.

A decent coach
Success on the field doesnt neccessarily mean a strong club of it, but if we started bringing home some bacon, that may just help us push on to the next level. Franchise system madness or not, the club wont progress until silverware is brought back to Halifax. shot in the arm required. A coach who drags players along and gets the best out of them all is worth his weight in gold. Matt doesn't seem to be that man, look at what the top coaches can do for the fortunes of other clubs, without taking years and spending buckets of cash... Such a pivotal job, i wish Matt were up to it, but he isnt.

The conditions that Matt and the players have in which to become a great team are lacking. The part time situation doesn't help - neither does the lack of training facilities. Conversely, what say you of Paul Cullen and his charges? All the best facilities and a "Super League" standard coach by all accounts. Why aren't they top of the league? Sometimes you can put all the good things in place and yet the gel still doesn't come together. The Leeds Rhinos team of the eighties and nineties can vouch for that. Maybe the quality mix of our players is off key? Maybe there's too many personality clashes? Yes, it just could be the coach but other factors cannot be simply dismissed.

Ill stick by a good coach being pivotal, granted he needs some condusive resources available to get the very best out of his players, but even with our short falls, i think we haven't neccesarily gone out on the field with the right attitude at times, you can achieve a lot without all the cards stacked in your favour. If that wasn't the case, the richest, biggest, most expensively assembled sides would win everything, and they don't. Im loath to look at comparisons with teams now, but looking through sport in general, throughout time we can see that some of the greatest names and icons built winning sides from an X Factor you either have or you don't, I dont think Matt does have it, and I cant tell you who does that would be available to us.
I dont actually think Paul Cullen is a good coach at all, i think hes a pundit with cliches and sound bites, so hes not a yardstick for anything. I would say one coach/manager i really admire is Roy Hodgson, he knows all about getting the best from limited resources, i wonder if its too late to get him a coaching badge
I do have this nagging feeling that although Hall and Calland may have been instrumental in getting some of our better players here, and good ones they are too, he hasnt got the best out of them, irrespective of training facilities or part time situations, too many of them are perhaps on the slide rather than the climb, im looking at Branighan and Bowman to take this side by the scruff of the neck in the future, with more players of their ilk to support. Were ok, were just not balanced enough, too many of them just dont seem to have that extra something that makes winners, that thing that means your totally dedicated to winning, nothing else matters. Careers are short, some of these guys will look back and regret the wasted opportunity i fear, and Matt may well look back as an old man and rue the fact that he seems to have gotten too pally with some members of the team, which makes it then harder to be their boss and brings too much sentimentality into what is essentially a ruthless business if you want to be winner.

Thats enough boring from me.

Not boring at all mate. Some good stuff in there. We all want the same end result.

You ought to ask some of the lads who have worked with Calland, all I hear is that they rate him & that is the truth. I've never heard one of the players or coaches speak ill of his work.

Yeah we keep hearing things like that, but unfortunately until they bring home the bacon it holds little weight, plenty of unsuccessful bosses in sport and business have got on well with players and seemingly been very capable on paper. Being a winner is different though, as i said, its that X Factor we all wish we could bottle, Matt maybe needs to worry less about 'The Lads' and more about getting a ruthless streak, shoring up the defence and forgetting about upsetting the odd player. Dont get me wrong, ive spoken to Matt a few times and i think hes an alright bloke, he can obviously coach certain parts of the game very well indeed, our attacking play stands up, its more the man management and defence thats always been a concern, i would love him to succeed, perhaps the good cop bad cop coaching partnership is required, this i why i think he would be a great number 2 for a more experienced coach, he can prepare teams well, work on their skills, he just doesn't seem to have the fire and brimstone pre match teamtalks. Maybe also a good old fashioned hard man on the field rallying the guys, who they look up to is key too, and i dont mean Stanley, he leads by example and commands respect, but hes not a born leader. Looking forward to the game now.

It is a very difficult blend to find. You dont want the boss being 'one of the lads' but neither do you want the head coach to be someone the players dont respect because he is too harsh.

Big massive bacon butty today.

Scrumptuous !

You're such a schmuk, Calland has MASSIVE support from the players, they all want to sign and play for him (unlike the days under Faz), why can't you just see that and accept it, you haven't a bluddy clue! Fax 46 - Barra 24. Case rested

Who attracted Dane Neeeeeeiiiirrinx ?

well done all at the club. lets hope that the next time we lose a game people will cut calland some slack for a change! today proved we can mix it at the top this season and we dont want to peak too soon

I agree with Haighy that Hall did a lot of the attracting players, and I am gutted he has gone. If he left so the club appeared to be doing something to stop the fans complaining thats a shame and I hope we ask him to come back (not that we will). There have been so many positives at our club since Hall and Calland arrived and I think people forget that!

Anyway I think another thing we can do is continue to push the lottery and cashfax, perhaps have Richard at the next home game trying to sign people up. I know we push this quite a lot and he does a great job, but a mid season push would probably be a good idea, even if we only manage to sign 10 up it all helps. I go on about this quite a lot but i remember Matt Callands letter about last year saying 150 new members would pay for a new player, thats not a lot of members really and could make a massive difference if we do come into financial difficulty on the money we have lost out on due to cup revenue. I know I managed to sign up about 10 friends fairly easily.