It wouldn't suprise me in the slightest if McBanana comes out of the closet. SOMEONE must be admiring Solomona's curves in the dressing room

Trust you to come up with that tigs - or should that be priapus?



Now that you mention it there is something macro-phallic about it, with a couple of firmly held

cheeks

No sign of the 'Mystic Eddie For Chairman' campaign I see.

1: Sticking with seemingly under-performing managers is rare, but it does not seem any less successful than dispensing with them. Clubs that change manager frequently aren't usually associated with success.

2: Man Utd were able to attract someone with a track record because they are Man Utd. We are not, and when you get your head round that, you'll be a lot happier.

It does leave the question of how Caisley got Brian Smith over here in '96, but since then we've 'only' been able to attract unproven assistant coaches.

3: Your original claim that we have had three years of mediocrity doesn't really hold up. Who has had a better last three years than Bradford, other than Leeds and Saints. Wigan? If so, barely and while suffering far greater indignities. 3rd or 4th just is not mediocre. Ask all but two or three of the other clubs in the Super League. Ask a few left outside, like Halifax and Widnes.

You can call it spin. I call it a dispassionate assessment of reality, as opposed to living in a fantasy world where if only Hood tried to bring in Wayne Bennett and Greg Inglis instead of settling for mediocrity, we'd be beating Leeds every other week; where going out of the play-offs in the first week is rock bottom (again, have a chat with some Halifax fans).


Classic 'Attlee was crap' reasoning there. Half that championship side was out the door before or soon after McNamara took over.

No sign of an interesting post from you I see.

Whilst I realise that we are not Man United (really?

) we [iwere[/i the reigning Super League and World Club Champions when McNamara was appointed. Unofficially, that made us the best club side in the world. Perhaps there [imay[/i have been some interest in our position had the club not taken a "knee jerk" decision to quickly fill the role vacated by Nobby with an unproven understudy who was no doubt a cheap option.

As for mediocrity? From SL and WCC champions to first round play-off elimination in two and a bit years? Very mediocre for a club who continue to make all the right noises about how competitive they are.

Cheers for the concession offered with the italics, but given that...

a) you have no evidence anyone was interested and
b) as you hint at, we were particularly skint at the time

...there is no (I'll see your italics and raise you a bold) reason to believe anyone else particularly more qualified could have come in.


SL Champions...

Michael Withers, Leon Pryce, Ben Harris, Shontayne Hape, Lesley Vainikolo, Iestyn Harris, Paul Deacon, Ian Henderson, Stuart Fielden, Jamie Peacock, Paul Johnson, Bradley Meyers, Lee Radford
Subs: Robbie Paul, Joe Vagana, Adrian Morley, Jamie Langley

Out first round...

Bradford Bulls: Michael Platt, James Evans, Paul Sykes, Chris Nero, Semi Tadulala, Paul Deacon, Ben Jeffries, Joe Vagana, Terry Newton, Andy Lynch, David Solomona, Simon Finnigan, Jamie Langley
Subs: Matt Cook, Iestyn Harris, Craig Kopczak, Glenn Morrison

... four survivors, half as many as played in both '05 and '08 GFs for Leeds (and not including Keith, who was injured thanks to Joe

). And by the way...



=

Again I could say that the players McNamara signed were just not good enough to replace those leaving. But no doubt some people will find other more "plausible" reasons for our downturn in quality.

As for the Noble link? Yes, sometimes clubs DO get it right. In the case of McNamara though, they have it completely wrong.

Not a flicker of recognition that replacing 75% of your first team squad in three years might be more difficult than replacing 50% of your first team squad, especially considering financial restraints and the lack of youth players coming through. And it's all academic when you have no alternative to offer to McNamara, other than on-off assurances that 'someone' might have been interested or might now be interested in the job.

Blah Blah Blah.

=red[iImage removed re AUP 1.2 et al. . . . Bullpower[/i

The same old "name a better person" argument. Why is it that some people feel the need for an alternative to be named rather than accept an opinion that the present man is not good enough?

Of [icourse[/i replacing 75% of the team is more difficult than replacing 50% of it. Even more difficult when you have a coach with a poor record in regards to recruitment.

However. Lets look at Wigan - the side that faced us a couple of weeks before Nobby left....

Ashton, Calderwood, Richards, Vaeliki, Dallas, Orr, Moran, Seuseu, Higham, Hargreaves, Tickle, Fletcher, O'Loughlin
Subs Wilkes, Prescott, Godwin, Jonkers

and the team that knocked us out of the play offs last season...

Mathers, Calderwood, Phelps, Carmont, Richards, Barrett, Leuluai, Fielden, Higham, Coley, Hansen, Bailey, J. Tomkins.
Subs: Paleaaesina, Hock, O'Carroll, Smith

Interestingly, three players played in both games - it seems that Nobby has dealt with his new broom a bit better than McNamara has done. Especially when you consider what they both inherited.

That's a 'no' then?

You seriously thought I was gonna start a campaign?