I will renew my season ticket but not because of the quality on the field. The slide to mediocrity that has been evident since McDermott took over will continue. The squad is the weakest it has been since Murray. The coaching structure and expertise is also very poor for a club of this stature and financial strength.

I am in a fortunate position where I can afford the £600 it will cost and not impact any other activities I want to do but its a social event and you will some good rugby - unfortunately most will be played by our opponents. If, as it appears, Hetherington has forced McDermott's hand in having to play the youngsters then there will be the added interest of seeing how the youngsters cope and develop. The fact that Keinhorst has made it into the top 20 suggests the club has some real strength in depth issues.

However for the club the wage bill will be probably the lowest its has been since Powell was in charge. Every cloud has a silver lining eh Gary?

I agree with G1 about the sex - the days of outdoor fun!! are a distant memory

Out of the darkness comes the dawn. One can only hope

Except in this case, the darkness has been caused by the club drawing the curtains on a sunny day.

Ditto the attendances.

This thread makes me feel like ending it all

I must have nodded off for the last 35 years when every game was a classic, with at least 8 evenly matched teams full of world class stars. Next season will be such an anti-climax.

You think it's bad now, apparently on a YEP story about Aiton, GH reveals that McDermott won't be hiring an assistant.

Got to admit even I'm disappointed with that.....although not quite as much as the wrist slitting misery brigade will be.

There are a handful of world class players in SL and even that is stretching the imagination - who would you say is world class at Castleford?

Do you honestly think you are evenly matched with Wigan, Saints, Warrington?

I'm not sure what your point is in relation to my post. I was suggesting that over the 35 years I have been watching, & for the last 15 that has been Leeds more than any other club, there has never been a golden period of RL. There have obviously been dominant teams with a host of WC players - Wigan, Bradford, Saints, Leeds - during that time, but usually at the expense of other clubs chances of making a fist of it. If that's your bag, fine. But we have a more level playing field now than any other time in that period. And I don't buy the claim that a number of clubs are cruising or not trying until the end of the season. The standard of RL in late 70s, early 80s, was absolute garbage in comparison. But I still loved the game as much as I do now.

Your post said "Eight evenly matched sides full of world class players" - I simply asked who the world class players were you had at Castleford?

I wouldn't consider Leeds evenly matched with Wigan, Saints, Warrington so I am struggling to see how you would consider Castleford to be on a level with those sides?

1) If new signings is all you care about, jog on to football. There is plenty of new signings, twice a year in fact that should capture your attention span.

2) If you drank less at games, maybe you could concentrate more on the on field action.

3) The shirt a team plays in influences your season ticket decision? Then why don't you just support a different team each year based on who's shirt you think is the besterest!!! Then you will never be disappointed.

4) This has nothing to do with the regular season. This point is redundant.

5) Stop drinking at the ground then, you might be able to concentrate on the rugby that's going on in front of your face.

Southstander.com is becoming a place of moaning old farts so you fit in perfectly. Why bother picking and choosing your games at all? Just don't go and watch from your armchair while drinking cheap beer and shouting at the telly "t'wer better in my day!" "call that a shirt" "why's he still playing he's crap?" Sound's like you'll have much more fun.

Southstander is simply reflecting the frustration of fans who are experiencing a significant dilution of quality whilst still being asked to pay the same price if not more. What should have happened was a building on a foundation created from 2003-2012 with standards increasing - sadly the reverse has happened.

I disagree and think the quality is increasing and it's becoming harder to win every game. With top class players being enticed to Australia and NZ (when in the past have we had so many go over and play at the same level as our antipodean cousins?) our pool of talent is growing every year.

10 of the 12 Super League coaches are British, where as 10 years ago it was 2. Building quality takes time and I believe we are now seeing the benefits of the last 10 years with more clubs producing players, some even coming from the championship and making it.

I for one will be renewing my season ticket and enjoy the rugby on show, win lose or draw, because I'm a fan of Rugby, England and Leeds. Yes there are problems to work out. Yes every game is not edge of your seat, going down to the wire, mouth watering style on display stuff, but what sport offers that week-in week-out? If you think that's sport then your are deluding yourself.

You must be watching a different game to most of us - the general view was that 2014 was the worst season for quality for many years - I don't see standards rising - I am also failing to understand why having British coaches without any experience of the best competition in the world is a good thing? Losing our truly elite players to the RU and the NRL and an inability to recruit quality players from the NRL has impacted the quality on the field - even you must see that?