Apparently Fax have been tailing off somewhat in recent seasons and playing some uninspiring rugby. A Fax supporting mate told me the nilling by Dewsbury was absolutely awful (but Harrison had gone by then). Seems they’ve been on a downward trajectory but as you say 3rd isn’t that bad on paper. For the sake of the derby next year I hope Marshall gets them on the up again.

From listening to Harrison on the radio his voice does have a bit of a soporific quality. Not in the same league as Jon Sharpe thankfully, but a long way from being an inspirational motivator.

I was listening to Paul Anderson on radio Leeds a few weeks back (another one with monotone delivery) and he was saying it’s up to players to provide their own motivation. I’m sure he’s right but I also think it’s up to the coach to do some of that too. Hopefully Lowes has got that ability. If not maybe he could get some poetry from Sir Peter Fox?

From all that we've been hearing from 'within' recently, it appears Jimmy is the firebrand, with the inspirational, red hot rhetoric, so unless all the players have been telling porkies, it seems that department is probably covered.

At the end of the day, Karl had a decent reputation when he left the club previously and whilst he didn't exactly cover himself in glory at Salford, it has to be said, that was hardly the [ieasiest[/i gig in SL [some things never change..] so for a rookie coach he probably did as well as could be expected. As a player, he never took a backward step, so if he can instill a bit of that into the side he'll do OK for me. If he can do it without shouting, well so much the better..

There's a certain kind of guy who can say that, believe it, and be completely unaware of how much of it he actually is providing. I would put money on Anderson being one of those.

We've been tailing off right from the point that Harrison took over. He has completely coached all the flair out of a once exciting team. Ex-fax players released by Karl now in the Championship Team of The Year - and not one current Fax player in it. Believe me, he's a poor coach. Don't take my word for it though - there's plenty on the Fax & Salford forums who will back up my statement.

In fairness he's the assistant. BIG difference.

Fair point. Obviously not sure of his motivational qualities so maybe his strengths do lay in an assistant type role. Hope he does kick on from here - he's still revered in Fax for his playing achievements.

When he was appointed at Salford we were dreadful defensively and he tackled that problem immediately and we had a good run for the first half of the season. However he seemed to be unable to push on from that base and (if my memory is correct) we lost every game in the second half of the season then the first half dozen in the next season so he got the bullet! Mind you as has been mentioned earlier in the thread coaching Salford has never been without its challenges!
FWIW, I think employed primarily as a defensive coach KH will do well for you.

It doesn't matter whether he's at bradford, salford or anywhere else he'll always be mr halifax to me. I really disliked him as a player, the gobby attitude, the coaching the ref, the fax shirt....

I respect the bloke both as a player and coach but he's permanently ingrained in my noggin as the key icon of our key rivals.

I don't really care, though, you talk as if we've never heard of him, even though in 2 years as our assistant coach he played his part in getting us to 2 Grand Finals and a WCC win. So, he can do that job, unless he's forgotten, which seems unlikely.

If you'd said his recent form as Head coach is not all that, it would be fair enough comment, it's just this "Believe me, he's a poor coach" stuff when he's pretty much proved what he can do - and at top level - that is I think a tad Black Knight.

But I shouldn't worry, when we were winning he was working under Noble and whaddya know he can't coach either, so maybe if you're right, we'll go well!

If he was as crap as people are making out they'd not be telling us which tells me he's actually quite good. In any case I don't think there's anyone else with the same level of experience knocking about.

John Kear, Dave Woods, Steve McCormack, Mark Aston, Darryl Powell that's just at Championship level who have same experience.

3rd was quite embarrassing, when you consider Fev were there for taking and we had to rely on Donny imploding in last two games to sneak 3rd. That's ignoring Sheffield didn't turn up til last month of season and Dewsbury plodded along not too far behind us and beat us twice.

If you want to go back to 1981 boring 1 man rugby tactics then KH is ur man but the game has moved on and nothing made it so obvious as his most recent role

Karl didn't do that bad last time he was at the Bulls did he? We destroyed Wigan in the 2001 Grand Final with Karl as assistant and we won the WCC in 2002. I'm very pleased that Karl has returned.

We also won Grand Finals after he'd left, the man is clearly just an inspiration for a generation, or Phil Veivers is a better option.

Anyway, daft arguments aside, I think Harrison will be as much as a co-coach as an assistant to Lowes, while Karl's record is hardly glowing he has the experience which we've been lacking for a while. Even if he takes defence duties then I'm hopeful things will improve out of sight from the last few seasons.

Francis Cummins is the worlds greatest coach who we shouldn't have sacked for missing out on the play offs in a skint and poop outfit. Yet Harrison is rubbish despite making third place in a skint and poop outfit!

I think in balance the fax fans are still a bit bitter as it's Bradford's fault they got relegated and then fell behind on their rent. Just like it's Bradford's fault Keighley weren't allowed into Superleague

Yeah, I doubt many of those are "knocking around" in the sense they would be available and willing come to Bradford as assistant (Darryl Powell for a start!!). Dave Woods maybe, but I'm sure Whitehaven fans would also be issuing warnings to us as well after they narrowly avoided relegation despite being relatively comfortable at the start of the year.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't have wanted Harrison as head coach, I think assistant is a different ball game though and have always thought that role was more suited to him, so not many complaints here.