I wonder now, will they approach him even if it's just on a short-term basis?

and all done in an era when Wigan bought anyone and everyone they fancied - can only guess what he might have managed with Greg at half

The season he got sacked he had the likes of Phil Blake, John Woods, Des Drummond, Steve Roach, Les Davidson and Mike Gregory at his disposal and couldn't get a tune out of them.

Yes, his years in charge (not even 3 years) were eventful and often entertaining, but he came up short as much as anyone else since when it came to getting consistent success.

Top boozer though, and hard.
Was our tour party leader on the 88 lions trip down under.
Him and Roger Millward could drink us all under the table.

To be fair, Roach was performing like a forerunner to Gil Dudson and Blake wasn't here the full season but certainly things seemed to go awry for Tony when it came to handling big egos.

Maybe they thought they were better than the coach, didn't respect him, downed tools and got him the sack.

Yet it wasn't. You play by the rules of the time and Halifax were crowned champions a month earlier.

The premiership was just an end of season knockabout after the serious stuff of the league and Challenge Cup was concluded.

I’m just looking forward to the book.

Over his entire tenure (2.5 years?) his win rate was 63% or so.

Only bettered by Price and Smith in near on 40 years.

I am very fond of that period as a young boy I went home and away with my Dad. We had a tough pack and took no crap. So maybe i have rose tinted spectacles.

Yes, it was a great time to watch Wire. The period between October 1986-January1987 was probably the best quality RL I've ever seen a Wire side play - Sadly, it was very brief, which is why I don't go OTT when remembering Tony Barrow. He was a good coach, but like most of our history, it delivered less than it promised.

Honest question do you think us fans cared less then than we do now though.

We didn't have the internet, did we, where everyone blows a gasket at the slightest loss of form, or poor performance?...

Seriously though, I think we did care as much. I also think the Wire crowd, though less in number, was a lot more knowledgeable and understood the ups and downs of the game a lot more than the modern fan.