I used to find him quite amusing in a sort of "WTF?" kind of way. But the more I heard from him the more nonsensical he became. He just sounds like a word salad of mixed metaphors. I quite like the guy, but its telling to me that he's just moving from one role to another at Headingley, for all his talk of developing himself and so on.

I don’t think Gary will have gone through many hard hats and laser levels during the stadium rebuild. The footprint of the stadium was always going to be the same and having a certain Mr Caddick on board means it was always going to be a well designed and structurally solid renovation. He only had one decision to make and he got it wrong in my opinion. Do you rebuild the North Stand as a direct replacement (i.e all seater) ? Yes obviously, no decision to make there. Although there are some issues for older people with the steepness of the terrace steps. Do you rebuild the South Stand as a direct replacement of the old one ( full terracing ) ? That is the only decision he had to really make, and in my opinion and probably many others he got it wrong and killed the overall atmosphere in the stadium. I don’t know where you go in the stadium Christopher, and I’d be interested to know if you think it was right to put seats in the South Stand. What benefit is there when we never sell out, because the extra seats aren’t generating extra revenue ? We had two pitifully empty all seater stands again yesterday. So we’ve killed the best atmosphere in Rugby League in the South Stand, for extra seats we don’t actually need, and made a lot of loyal, long standing supporters angry at their opinions being overlooked when he revealed the mixed seating/terracing stand. I had no problem with the old North Stand replacing the standing paddock with seats, and I think the seating/standing East Stand was a great addition to the ground and enhanced the stadium beyond belief. The new South Stand with added seats is the biggest mistake the club could have made.

Yes I think it was right to put seats in the southstand, the alternative would have been a smaller stand with a poorer concourse and poorer facilities, the size of the stand meant it needed two tiers.

Even if they had made it all stranding modern building regs would have meant it wouldn’t have been like the old southstand anyway.

I sit in the East stand but have spent many games in the old southstand, I thought it was a pretty horrible place to watch RL from and it was a crumbling dump.

I don’t think terracing is where planners want you to be these days; there is a big safety element. The new stadium is ace.

What ruins the atmosphere is fickle fans booing their own club and players. We had a great atmosphere at Hull which was all seated.

I agree, the new stadium is fantastic, but with seats at the back of the South Stand it has killed the atmosphere in there. You can have a great atmosphere in all seater stadiums, but the atmosphere normally starts with chanting from the back of the stand, that’s just how it is. The acoustics are better and the atmosphere then spreads forwards. The best atmosphere I’ve ever been part of was Warrington away, play off semi final 2011, on the away terrace, but the fans make the atmosphere at a ground whether it’s all seater or mixed. There’s a different demographic and vibe at away games too, that always helps. Unless you enforce an ultras only rule in the South Stand seats it’s always going to be a less voiciferous stand than the original.

It isn’t the same acoustic impact 100% but I suspect the design was more driven by cost and planning regs / safety regs. Modern world…

Either way I still think the stadium is great, and is one part of Hetherington’s legacy which was really important.

Along with a poor team the South Stand not being all standing has killed the atmosphere , no reason for it to be smaller with less facilities if the seats were not there . The old South Stand was great to watch from , hence the reason why it was always packed when there was space elsewhere in the ground

construction and regulation size there's no reason it couldn't be all standing. there would be, like all standing areas, a regulated capacity

It wouldn’t be two tier if it was all standing. Any modern all standing stand would not be the same atmosphere as tge ild SouthStand.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on the old Southstand it was a dump with poor visibility.

If we were performing better you might find the atmosphere better

yes and no.
it's obvious it wouldn't be 2 tier and nobody is arguing the old one was a dump. I agree atmosphere would be better with a better side. however the question is did it need to have seats. for me no. there are plenty of empty seats elsewhere. it was simply a commercial decision

Of course it didn’t need’ to have seats, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying it would have affected the design of the stand if it wasn’t two tiers and the atmosphere in a modern stand wouldn’t compare to the old stand anyway, so if it was a commercial decision and that’s paying off then it’s better with seats.

As an aside my preference is always to watch behind the posts, I find you can see much more of the structures and play, but that’s by the by

my season ticket was in there. right behind the sticks. I preferred it. you get to see how bad the defensive line is!

Yep. That's where I am. I prefer it because you get the physicality of the game when they are attacking/defending the line. In the olden days I used to follow them round if they were playing to the old scorebard end in the 2nd half. Certainly helped pass the half time break.

rlhttps://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos-gary-hetherington-speaks-out-after-painful-and-embarrassing-loss-makes-pledge-on-2024-squad-4288366rl

Latest article following the defeat at the weekend. My first reaction was more excuses, but there is something in the missing players point, although GH has contributed to that point himself with letting Leeming go and not replacing him, and also with the Austin saga which he could and should have handled better. He's also blaming "all the big calls went against us". Well if they were right calls Gary, where's the problem? I really don't like the club officials bringing the performance of the match officials into the public domain.

There still seems to be a massive undercurrent of "trust me, things will be better next year" and "our team will look a lot different", but trust for GH is now in very short supply after so many years of neglecting the first team as the priority.

his recent record is awful. doesn't give you a lot of trust in him