Quote: The Eagle "I would disagree that once a big club has fallen on hard times its a hard monkey to get of the back. Before it was constantly the year of the wolf, it was always the year of the rhino.'"
Yes for the fans it may have always been year of the rhino again and again....but it wasn't for Tony Smith, fresh in, no baggage of failure, no several years of thinking "is this my year", likewise nearly all his squad. They'd had a near miss the year before but most teams need that before getting the big one (see Wire and Hudds now, and Wigan fell just short 3 years in a row before 2010).
At times during that 32 years sure there was hard times but I wouldn't say at that particular point we were on hard times. The squad was looking as exciting as it had done for a long time, the club had actually gotten one monkey off their backs with the 99 CC.
If failure of previous coaches added pressure to Smith's job, was it any greater than the pressure McClennen or McDermott felt with having to keep success up? Look at Moyes at Man Utd, even Dean Lance after Graham Murray shows success of one coach doesn't mean the next one will keep it going.
Quote: The Eagle "I agree Eagle the 3 decades + of under-achievement , over-spending on "superstars" and nearly going under should never be under-estimated.'"
Smith's success as a coach in 2004 (not what it meant as a fan, as that is a different thing and understandable) should be based solely on what he achieved in a little over 32 weeks of action that year, not what others did (or didn't do) in the previous 32 years.