Quote: lefty goldblatt "Let's forget about Moran and Middleton. They've bigger fish to fry.. Despite them being local lads AND fans, it's quite obvious they have bigger fish to fry. We're their "train set", their "model aircraft" their "go kart" etc. ...a hobby, that they've entrusted the care of, (into the hands of) Muppets.
Fitzpatrick, an ex RL player that's been given the title of CoO is now our hirer and firer. Not a time served businessman. How would duckie put it. Rugby players are thi....
Well, Karl
Smith was on a downward spiral for years, yet he stayed for years. Everyone knew he was going in the spring of 2017. Eventually, in the early days of September, he announced he was leaving. It took you a MONTH to come up with Price.
The buck stops with you Karl, and the poor coach YOU brought in.
To be honest, a few daft stunts with a man dressed up in a Wolf costume MAY bide you a little time, and a few YouTube likes, but,.to the cash paying CUSTOMERS (because THATS what we are, not fans), it doesn't wash.'"
I think this has hit the nail on the head.
KF was telling the media that we compare ourselves to "the biggest sporting brands in the world" he should reflect on who their CEOs are. If a vacancy arose at Manchester United, Chelsea etc to be the CEO and he put his CV in, would he be in with a shout of making the shortlist?
No chance.
He got the job as Warrington Wolves CEO at age 36 or whatever and that just wasn't the right appointment for us given our ambitions. We needed someone with real proven experience of success in a senior business position, ideally senior sporting position.
Other than the excessive bombastic stuff he comes out with, the cliched management speak and the stupid social media wind ups I do like him. When he's on the BBC rugby league show, he comes across well. Rugby league administration has been poor for many years, loads of dry suits with no imagination running the RFL and Super League, it has really lacked someone with ideas and imagination and enthusiasm for the game, and someone who understands it from the players' perspective as well as the fans' perspective. KF ticks all those boxes and so I think his potential to be a big figure in improving the sport is very high and so it was an asset to our club that we had him.
I just think he was overpromoted, getting this job, at that point. I didn't think Roger Draper was that good either. The club had started to tread water after Andy Gatcliffe left.
We needed to get a really significant figure after Draper that would make sure everything at the club went up a notch: the talent identification, the recruitment, the academy, the marketing. Someone who would bring a stamp of excellence to the club, not just talk about 'excellence'. KF could have had a position there too, head of marketing or whatever, but I don't think if your ambitions are to be an elite organisation that you appoint a 36 year old, especially one who has only been working in an off-field role for a few years.
So the problem has been that KF is a bright guy but is over exposed in this role. We're not doing badly, and I actually prefer KF to Draper, he has more drive about him and understands the fans and audience better. But if we want to go from a club competing for 3rd to 5th place, knocked out in the playoffs, to the level of regular winners like Saints, Wigan, Leeds, we need to upgrade things: the recruitment, the Academy, ability to bring top class players through in to the first team, and the obvious place there is to upgrade at the top (keep KF at the club by all means).
Otherwise yeah, we can make Price the sacrifice, change the coach, hope that a new guy will change the situation, like we did with TS a couple of years back, and then in a couple of years time, we'll be having the same conversations.
