That story was nonsense. Phil Adamson was a well known and highly rated ARL player when we signed him. Like Josh Perry, he should have been a good signing. It just didn't work out for whatever reason.

A representative was sent to Australia to sign 'Adamson who played for Australia'. We signed Phil when we should have signed Matt. Was a state of Origin rep but still a cock-up.

Yeah, I know that's the story. It's just completely implausible. A classic 'made up' rumour that got repeated enough times to become 'true'.

There was only one reason Adamson didn't work out - Ellery Hanley.

Adamson was signed before Hanley was announced as coach, so obviously a move by the board. The way he was treated was quitre clearly Hanley flexing his muscles by banishing him to the reserves.

I remember us going to a number of reserve games that year and Adamson was quite clearly a man amongst boys, but Hanley left him in there for the entire year, despite the atrociously bad Paul Davidson playing a large number of game at prop for us that year.

Hanley may have won the league that year, but he was as mad as a sack of badgers.Just because Adamson didn't figure in his plans doesn't mean he couldn't have been good for us.

Another myth unfortunately - we knew exactly what we were getting when we signed Tanner. He always looked a very good player at #1 but unfortunately always had Vievers in his way and so ended up spending most of his Saints career being not quick enough stuck out on the wing. A crying shame.

And we [iactually[/i had Mark Preston play for us as a triallist in a reserves game and turned him down for being too small. He then went to Wigan and scored 45 tries in his first season. We spent a fortune on signing the colossus that was Brimah Kebbie instead, who I doubt scored 45 tries in his entire career... Numpties doesn't even begin to describe our management back then.

Yet some would suggest that this attitude is what is required today at Saints with regards to Lance. I've heard a few times, drop him to the reserves or send him to rochdale, to force him out.

Hanley was ruthless, but my point was that the Adamson thing wasn't based on his playing or training ability, more Hanley demonstrating his power over the players.
He tried the same thing with Tommy Martyn the season later and we know how that ended.

We looked at Offiah before Widnes signed him by all accounts,but the board said he was an uncordinated clown.Jerremy Guscott in his autobiography mentioned he met Saints directors and described them as a bunch of amatuers ( or something along those lines )

Yeah, but Guscott would probably have described himself as "amateur" at the time, and that would be rollocks.

Watched the Jonathon Davies super league supermen yesterday,he said he had talks with Saints in the garage of one of the directors,didnt sound very impressed with the way we handled it at all.

Those of us who remember our Dentist Director signing Aidrian Shelford on the back of a fag packet could understand it

Good god this board is totally sane compared to red vee admin and his merry men