Which is exactly my point. If it was all a historical thing we would have got shut last year too and maybe even tried to get a small fee.

I think the bad blood has been going on for some time before he got made CEO (a position I find baffling to be awarded tor him),
I can only guess (or speculate) that Rush would have told Brown that unless Gaskell proved he was was indispensable in Brown's view then he (Rush) would advise him (Brown) to get shut etc etc.
It is no secret the Gaskell and Brown did not get on.

I agree with you that there could have other unknown factors, but Gaskell was by far the worst player in the squad and better than much of what has replaced him in his role.

Because that is the reason which makes most sense to me.

Just because it makes sense to you doesn't make it fact. I have been told ( by persons who shall remain nameless but are in a much better position than you ) that it was Gaskells general attitude around the squad which was the problem. He was starting to drive wedges in between himself and senior squad members. I trust who told me this, therefore i believe it.

I didn't say it did and I have never claimed it did.

Senior members you mean wello and Wilkin you ask other senior members of the squad what they think of Gaskell and they won't say a bad word about him most say he been treated badly by saints

www.sthelensreporter.co.uk/sport ... -1-5812309

www.sthelensreporter.co.uk/sport ... -1-5812309

O'Brien seems a bang average player to me. Hard to believe that any of our young lads would make a much worse fist of it.

I was beginning to wonder when the discussion would come back to O'Brien rather than a full blooded discussion about Lee Gaskell, who for whatever reasons he has been "binned off", had nothing to do with the initial posting of this thread..

I understand that Gaskell could have done a job for us, but he isn't with us so there is not much point discussing his value, or lack there of, to our squad...

So back on topic, I listened to the game Friday night and heard his named mentioned no fewer than 4 times dropping the ball in good positions... was this a poor performance by O'Brien alone or just summed up the night for Saints?

He was dreadful but so were plenty others. It was a very very bad night. A couple of his dropsies were off terrible balls including a read stinker from Roby on one of the rare occasions we had field position.

He was dreadful but so were plenty others. It was a very very bad night. A couple of his dropsies were off terrible balls including a read stinker from Roby on one of the rare occasions we had field position.

I think we need to draw a line under Friday it was far more woeful than the score line suggests. However it would be unfair not to give O'Brien another crack at Cas, has as been stated he was not on his own in stinking. I draw the line at Howarth unless he is at nine covering for James he is not capable of covering elsewhere at a quality club such as Saints. No disrespect but he is a Salford standard player.

Saints standards are not very high at the moment that's why you have obrien and howarth on loan and one of the slowest players in the league at 6

I am sorry if you took offence to the comment, I have a lot of time for Salford and the new ground and hope it works out for the club. The point I should be making is Gaskell and Howarth are not of the standard I want to see at Saints, where they end up is not really my concern as a Saints fan.