I think there's a lot of knee jerk reactions in here. I'm keeping my powder dry until I see how our 2023 squad shapes up.

Appointing from within is not necessarily a disaster. I remember seeing plenty of Wigan fans fearing the worst when they went with Matty Peet as their head coach and look how that turned out. Conversely, appointing a big name head coach doesn't always mean success either. There are plenty of examples of this, including several at Bradford!

I think he meant that you are clowns in a Stephen King sense. Brooding and cool...

Well said Northus. Finally someone with some sense!

Depends what you mean by knee jerk.

I’ve suspected for weeks that the reason for the prolonged process was in the hope that results justify a cheap appointment.

That’s my view, it hasn’t changed following the announcement and this combined with the amateur way the club is run shows a complete lack of ambition.

It’s not just the lack of ambition, it’s the dishonesty that goes along with it. They’re talking about competing at the top end of the sport - they’re deluded or dishonest (probably both).

It is incredibly underwhelming, especially after the carrot of "big name interest from around the world". Why even suggest that? Some more amateur RL-ing from our utterly inept marketing department.

I mean Dunning has done okay-ish, but I can't see this bringing anyone lost to the Bulls back. It's the opposite of when we signed Kear.

It screams "we're skint, we're mid-table and we'll make do. Now pay to come and watch an average team".

Also, to clarify, I'm a 'Definitive Clown'. Can I still be grouped as an 'Absolute Clown' for census purposes?

By knee jerk I mean immediately saying you're done as a ST holder. Mark has won 5 from 8 games and I think everyone can agree that we're playing a much better style of rugby now than we were under Kear. Why not just wait and see how we look going in to next season before making a decision?

I will say that I'm a bit disappointed in us bringing Noble back in. He won't be cheap and I really don't see what he can offer. If Mark really needs help that much then why offer him the head coach position?

I know, it’s all about the money. Well, to start with we need to get our elite academy licence back. Which I think is later this year. Then that frees up £100k of funding to spend on the first team.
I think there’s a plan and we’re going big on the academy, which has always been a strength. I think we’ve got better relationships with local business since 2012 and I don’t know, but I’ve a feeling our corporate income is rising, based on all these bullring tweets.
In every area, except the stadium and the first team, I see improvement. Increasing income streams in those areas above, increases our first team budget for next year.
Untangling the knot that our stadium has become is a huge piece of work, needing several phases and partners. I can only hope we make the playoffs and the CEO can keep the majority of the remaining fan base onside otherwise we’ll urinate up a wall all the other things that seem to be going on. I hope the next fans forum can articulate some of this and allow some of you to reflect your (understandable) initial reaction

If you’re looking for positivity, try and catch an academy or scholarship game although there’s not many left. It’s mental how many good players we have. And it’s the key positions as well - 1, 7, 9, 13. All getting called up to the Yorkshire academy origin games.

For me (and I suspect many others) it isn’t solely based on this and that’s why I would challenge that it’s a knee jerk reaction.

There are so many things about the club that are amateurish at the moment. As I’ve said previously, I suspected this would be the call and as such I’ve had plenty of time to reach my conclusion about the decision. Appreciate others will disagree, but I don’t think it’s a knee jerk reaction.

A culmination of years of chaos, poor decisions and poor leaders has obviously turned plenty of fans away judging by attendances.

It baffles me that given everything we’ve all suffered through at this once great club, that anyone would point the finger at fans who’ve had enough instead of the owners.

Well I imagine the list of 'high calibre candidates' was actually not much of a list at all when budgets were discussed. Best of luck Mark, you'll need it fella, the future looks bleak with the ever dwindling crowds.

I found your post quite comforting. You're right a huge amount now hinges on the fans forum. People need to be satisfied that appointing Dunning is more than just a cost saving measure. If its part of a grander plan then great but I don't blame anyone for being very cynical.

Don't get your hopes up! I think many people are past caring so the forum will be quite poorly attended compared with ones in the past.

It’s a sound appointment but the way they’ve dragged it out for 10 weeks after everything that’s gone on over the last decade and a half shows that the people at the top haven’t learned a thing.

The way they casually throw Noble in there like chucking fish to the clapping seals.

This should have been announced the day after Kear got the sack.