There have been unsubstantiated rumours on these boards for a few weeks now that Basil and Clogger have been put on 'Gardening Leave', and now it appears that they were not at the Cas friendly either (quoting the in-laws as I was otherwise engaged on Boxing Day)

Does anyone know when announcements are to be made, or if there is any further news yet?

All seems a bit odd doesn't it? Been no mention of Clogger in pre season either which is unusual. I certainly didn't see either of them on Boxing Day, makes you wonder if the lack of announcement is due to legal issues?

I must have missed these rumours. Other than T & A Article which appeared and then was never mentioned by them again I havent heard anything. Interesting though, who, if anyone, would we get to replace Basil. Surely Macca needs some kind of asst?

One of the St Hilaires was quite active at the Cas match from what I've been told?

Lee is the assistant at the moment.

I saw Medley as well, but none of the others. Unless Richards was in the stands, but I doubt it.

Well, given that its xmas, maybe they just had the day off... or is that explanation just too mundane?

If you keep your fingers crossed both will be gone never to be seen again. Two members of staff that are nowhere near capable enough to do the job that they are employed to do. In fact as far as I'm concerned the entire coaching staff are under extreme pressure now that the club has recruited so strongly. Failure for them now just isn't an option.

Basil Richards has applied for the South Wales Scorpions first team coaching job, but is hardly amongst the front runners from what I understand.

What I understand, having worked at the Bulls' training ground over the summer, is that none of the coaching staff were leaving.

SUMMER?

Wasn't that quite a while a go?

The fact that I feel like I'm auditioning for ''Dancing On Ice'' on a daily basis tells me that summer was a long time ago.

Yes that explanation is far too mundane. Wild speculation is far more interesting

And your qualification to pontificate that Clawson is "nowhere near capable enough" to do strength/conditioning is . . .

I'm not sure if you can put last year's failings down to fitness. I think more was to do with technique and basic ability. Clawson was good enough at conditioning when we won the title in 2005. What's changed since then? Well a lot of good players left, the coaching setup changed too.

I do think that we appear to be less adept at controlling the ruck consistently in recent years but is that down to lack of strength or technique and ability? From the terraces I'd say it's very difficult to tell unless you're well versed in these arts yourself.