Open the door Hal.

Mick Potter is who i'd have my money on.

You're welcome to him!

I was quite impressed by your coach on Boots'n'All tonight. It looks like he has put a lot of effort and thought into things and he isn't going to be working alone. Not only does he have the insight into the opposition of Smith for one year but he is also going to appoint a team around him. Given his direct experience with the disaster that was the last world cup and also the changes that were made in readiness for the Four Nations (in which we did look better for the most part), he may work out to be a good risk. I'm hoping he does because he comes across as such a nice bloke and very, very enthusiastic.

How dare you fly in the face of conventional wisdom?? Just about every man and his dog everywhere seems to be saying what a rubbish appointment this is.

My own view is that almost the only one who will not be surprised at how well Macca will do in the job is the dog.

What you have to understand is that Joe Fan on here knows far more about these matters than ever the likes of Mozza or JP will - let alone everyone who was involved in the selection process. The few lone voices who anticipate he will be successful - who also tend to be those who understood what he had to contend with at Bradford - are clearly not wired up right and so are to be pitied or derided.

You may wish to revisit your enthusiasm for backing what will so clearly be a total disaster for England. Its bound to be - conventional wisdom decrees it will be so.

It's a habit for which I am well known.

I'm not trembling in my boots. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in the next few years.

I'm reading so much nonsense across the boards its just pitiful.

Can't be d replying to any of them. There are going to be a lot of people looking very foolish in years to come, IMO.

i think macca will do a good job for england as uncovered alot of young talent while at bulls and think with england set up he will have pick of best players plus big funds he will make england squad very good .just wish people would give him a chance and judge him once hes in charge then having a go before saying hes not the right man for the job

I love some of the comments I've read. Especially the ones talking about how Kear would have been their first choice completely overlooking the fact he tried it before and was gash.

kear didnt want the job but im with you dont think kear would have been any good as england coach as rumours already that not everything right at wakey

Is that you Dave?

I'm happy he'll be going soon, but will save any celebration until I see who we're getting in his place. I think 4 years is plenty long enough and it will be good for the club to have someone come in with fresh ideas, particularly if they're in the mold of Maguire/Brown (presuming we can afford someone of that quality).

TBH having watched him for an hour on boots n' all I was hardly filled with confidence for England, and most of my concerns about him remain the same. I'm sure he's done some good things behind the scenes at Bradford in difficult circumstances, but for me he comes across as a poor communicator, who is incapable of articulating anything of substance in terms of his approach. All i could gather, was that he might propose we had two referees in the UK, would work with a team of people and would concentrate on mental toughness, which may or may not involve actually having the players train on a rugby field when he had charge of them. I can't imagine that is a radically different vision to what has gone before, barring the not training to play rugby bit. Outside of that he will spend some time in Auz hanging out with Brian Smith, which all told sounds like a nice job barring the annual slagging he'll get.

I wish him well and hope I'm proven wrong and England flourish under him, but I'm afraid his record in achieving things on the pitch at Bradford hasn't been impressive and to save everyone time and energy I'm well versed in the reasons why that might be the case. It will be interesting to see who we get to replace him, but I would prefer we ruled out Lowes, McDermott and McRae asap.

I figured I knew your thoughts ME. I had access to the tinternet at work for a change today so I could watch the joy roll in. But I guess we all need to see the replacement first before we can all guess if we've moved forward or backwards.

Seriously though, and apologies if you've stated it elsewhere, but who do you fancy for the replacement? The aussie assistant approach if we can afford it?

If Macca's contract with the Bulls allowed him to take a part time job as GB coach then he is to be commended on this appointment and I wish him the best to improve himself and the GB team.
I can only hope that it will not detract from his efforts as the Bulls coach for the remainder of the season.
He has proven himself as an excellent recruiter of young talent and brought them on exceptionally well, and has had to work under an uncompromisingly restricted financial regime placed upon him by the Bulls Board.
That said, the role he accepted was primarily to the the first team and he sustantially failed in this.
The teams he put on the field mostly were not fit enough, generally not motivated nor mentaly prepared.
There was an evident lack of defensive structure and incisve attacking plays, and overall there was little evidence in most matches of a game plan of any sort.
There were of course matches of exception which relied on the player's individual skills and nothing to do with a coached game plan.

OK thats my genuine opinion.. I'm sure others might have theirs

Funnily enough, from looking around the other forums there is a somewhat underwhelming feeling about this appointment. In fact, most seem to reckon that England are screwed now. It appears that the common opinion seems to go against the views of a select few on here. Everyone else is wrong I guess?

You missed out the fact there are 'super players in super league'.