So you think that FC is not good enough then?

Bemoaning this over a period where the club was clearly in disarray and weren't likely to make any sensible long term investments...

So what you're saying is that last years side were acceptable, in spite of the fact that the side contained the players that you've listed here, but this year they are 'a complete embarassment'. But this is down to them as individuals, as opposed to anything external to them. But it's also the coach's fault. But the conditioning isn't an excuse because you were moaning about a few years ago. So sack everyone.

No, that would be silly. When did I say that?

Now you are just making things up. The point I was making, as you well know is that using the Sky money as an excuse could perhaps be taken more seriously if we had a massively changed side because of the lack of funding. We don't, it is much the same side. The team showed last season, in adversity, that it was a competitive side yet now we are a very poor side indeed.

Is it down to coaching? Perhaps.

More worryingly for me is what is going on behind the scenes. There is clearly something unsettling at our club at the moment as the same players that did so well last season are now a shadow of their previous selves.

There appears to be no pride in wearing the shirt.

I don't think it is much the same side at all, we lost several key players during the off season - including three props - that we just didn't have time to replace.

We also lost Mick Potter, and everyone else who was made redundant and not taken back on.

How can you possibly say the side is muchly the same?

Erm... because 14 of the 17 that were named today were in the side last season? Pretty much the same is it not?

Incidentally, just to be pedantic, we lost Kopczak (as a player) during the season. We had plenty of time to replace him.

I am? I was just trying to follow the through line of your argument. Sadly, you didn't supply one yourself, so I had to infer it, in good faith, from your posts.



So either coaching makes no difference, in which case getting rid of FC would make no difference, or it does make a difference and things are massively different from last year. Which?



Adversity brings out the best in people, but it isn't sustainable. If it was, all teams would be constantly attempting to get to deeper and deeper levels of disarray...



I'm not sure I can give you that. You've implied that it both definitely is and definitely isn't. It can't also be 'perhaps'.



Clearly...

Err, no we lost him before the last game of the season. Which is when we came out of administration and by which point any player worth signing up has already got a new club to go to.

The fact is, clubs begin their recruitment at this time of year so last year cos we were in the , we could not recruit. We couldn't even put feelers out to players as there was no guarantee of their even being a club for them to come to.

Eddie, did you actually go to the game yesterday? It's not heart that's lacking from the Bulls, it's brains. We throw the ball about when we should be playing conservatively and we stick the ball up our jumper when we should be playing an expansive game.

Yesterday's game should that we don't know how to play the elements. There was a strong wind blowing down from the Rooley lane end. Widnes used that in the 2nd half by kicking early and turning us round every time, wearing the players down.

Though I will admit that our defence at times yesterday was so bad as to be none existent.

Gates were on the slide from 2004 onwards. But maybe those folk had preemptive knowledge of the horror McNamara was to inflict on the club.