Very little as a player and even less as a coach.

What every one seems to forget is the people under who Steve learned his trade! Brian's Smith & Noble & Smith the younger. The Smith brothers hold him such great esteem they made him their captain & leader, they are no mugs. Just look beyond his Hull accent & awkward public persona. His knowlage of the game & its workings are second only to a very few people.

Compared to who?

Don't confuse what some posters on an Internet forum think of the England coaching job to how the world at large view it. I think it is the most prestigeous job going in the sport in this country, which is why I was baffled when McNamara got the job given his poor record at Bradford and his lack of coaching experience generally. In retrospect I think he got the job primarily because he was good at putting systems in place with good ideas on how to foster Team England, and England needed such things to be put in place following the debacle that was the 2008 world cup.

IMO what England needs now is for those systems and that international club ethos to continue, being fostered and developed, and a winning coach to take the team forward to the next level. Namely, winning a world cup.

Just a damn shame that 'the next step' didn't happen before what has probably been the best rugby league world cup ever held in this country so that the great home crowds could have witnessed a big victory.

Don't recall saying anything like that myself. I was quite happy as were plenty of Roosters fans. Considering he was the Assistant at the Roosters when they got the GF in 2010, im not sure many Roosters fans would be saying Trent who. He was very highly regarded here. Couldn't care less about the Sydney media, pretty much the same for most NRL fans, not sure how it effects you though. Seeing that im from Wigan and a Warriors/England fan, I think my opinion of McNamara is no different that what most UK fans think. Why would I want him here, when most Super League fans wouldn't want him at their clubs????