I don't see an issue in it at all. He gave an opinion on why Salford failed to perform. What the issue actually is is irrelevant. It could be small playing squad/financial situation/administration etc in this case it's leadership of the club. Either you can comment on the other team or you can't.

I think, because he apparently said this in a couple of different interviews, that this was deliberate by McDermott ie he didn't just get carried away.

Whatever people might think about McDermott he thinks and cares about the game as a whole. He puts significant time and effort into the amateur game and is a prime mover behind the Rhinos Coach Education scheme. Hetherington is also keen for Leeds to help the game as a whole improve. Partly, at least, because a better game overall is better for Leeds.

I think those things are worth bearing in mind when evaluating McDermott's comments.

His comments were part of his opinion as to why Salford had played the way they did it wasn't a thoughtless irrelevant outburst G so i say good on him.
It also has no reflection on Leeds at all imo as for "facts" the situation he covered was/is clearly in the public domain i.e Squad unrest ,winding up orders, Dr Gobsh##e constant outbursts ,etc etc it all equates to the off field circus MK has created.

I fully concur.

Exactly right.

And, not unlike this message board, the unseemly tit for tat continues .....

rlhttp://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/marwan-still-angry-leeds-rhinos-9794004rl

I'm starting to think that Marwan Koukash is actually AP in disguise, because if that isn't a trolling effort I don't know what is.

Clearly "being the bigger man" isn't a phrase that gets much use in the Koukash household.

If I were the RFL, I'd also be asking him to explain his criticism of the match officials at Easter. Get your wallet open sunshine, you've got a fine coming.

He's becoming a genuine embarrassment to the game and a liability to the Salford club. They were better off under Wilkinson, at least they had a ground they owned and a team prepared to play for each other and the coach.

So does that mean Harris has been booted out now? No mention of him or his 'illness' at all during that piece; all just about Sheens instead.

Has Harris been locked in a cupboard somewhere; you know the sort you put stuff in you want to dump and then forget about for several years..?

I doubt they were better off under Wilkinson because apparently they'd effectively mortgaged their stadium anyway and so received virtually nothing from the sale of it. IIRC they were very close to going under before Koukash bought them.

But...

He's most definitely not the messiah some Salford fans were making him out to be, and he definitely isn't the uber businessman he likes to portray himself as compared to other RL club owners and operators.

Caddick/Hetherington, Lenagan, McManus, Moran, Davy, & the ones at Cas and Widnes who I've forgotten the names of, all totally eclipse Koukash in terms of running an RL club.

He desperately needs to stop thinking he's right on a subject he knows nothing about.

I'm as happy as anyone to take the kick out of Iestyn, but he doesn't deserve to be treated this way, no employee of any company does. Koukash is dicking around with people's lives.

He won't come clean over Harris until after he's certain that his courtship of Brian McDermott as replacement coach has paid off.

Jack Fulton and Steve O'Connor. You can't remember their names because they're not publicity-hungry maniacs. They're also probably wealthier than Koukash.

Thought the MEN column was quite restrained by his standards though, and puts a line under it. It had probably been through quite a few revisions before it got to press...

Yep. They just get on with running or overseeing the running of their respective clubs.


I think it was restrained in terms of having a go at McDermott, probably because McDermott is well respected in the game, but it still turns virtually the whole article into the Marwan Koukash show, yet again, rather than the Salford Red Devils.

The majority of that article should be given over to Salford issues, not Marwan issues, with a mention of the McDermott comments if he wanted.

Not to mention the fact it's not really an article but a random collection of almost 1 line sentences.

That seems to be something of a house style on the MEN when it comes to RL stuff. It looks incredibly clunky and amateurish with very little flow to it and makes the reader work hard to stick with it and get to the end of the article (which is where a chunk of the advertising sits on most sites).

And now Theo Fages has quit the club after a breach of contract by the club towards him.

As per the club and Doctor are saying they've done nothing wrong and refuse Fages resignation. Suppose it's all a coincidence and false these contract disputes the club is experiencing.