Tony Smith Here to Stay

Quote: Snaggletooth "I guess the questioning and I am one of those asking is why he (TS) hasn't got the recruitment/transition right over the last couple of seasons.

Yes he has brought success seen previously only once in a generation. However, once achieving the heights and with the considerable backing of the club and owner, he should not have been masterminding a team slipping away in the way we have.

We should have achieved the holy grail, which numpty Hemmings constantly reminds the world of.

The only thing that matters now is winning the GF Wembley and a CC win is only consolation.'"

Several years ago the buzzword for RL clubs was sustainability. So club income balances expenditure and there is no need for a sugar daddy to support the club - that would be a fine gift from SM if he could bequeath it to his successor. But if he has to spend an additional £750,000 on players each year it's not achievable. So the obvious answer is to grow your own. Bring in kids from the local area, add a few promising one's from outside and hey presto you have a constant stream of replacements for the retiring superstars. That's why we have such a big emphasis on our youth system and why for example, you are seeing all the local clubs appearing at the HJ for each home game.

Now cast your mind back to 2013. We made no signings at all, but coming through from the U20's were Glen Riley, Ryan Shaw, Danny Bridge, James Saltonstall, Jordan Burke, Jack Morrison, James Mxndeika,Gavin Benion. They were on our professional books after completing the last year of their U20's.

In 2014 we signed Penny, England, Asotasi and Russell. No major signing fees there, although Asotasi would certainly take a big chunk of the SC. Departing were Morley, Carvell, Cooper, Briers and Hodgson (amongst others). In accounting speak, the debit side of the equation was loaded heavily compared to the credit.

In 2015 we signed Simms, Wheeler and Clark. One costly signing and two quality players came in. We lost Waterhouse and Michael Monaghen. Also notable amongst the younger kids, we released Riley, Bennion, Burke, Saltonstall, Bridge, Tom Walker. By the end of 2015 we were also to lose Joel Monaghen, Chris Bridge, Simon Grix and Paul Wood - all pretty much worn out from the demands of a tough SL career. 2015 was a disaster on the pitch with Leigh taunting TS that they would see us in the middle 8's, a mid table finish, and only the season ticket holders preventing our attendance figure falling further than -7%. I guess SJM probably decided that something drastic would have to be done very early into 2015 and we saw that unfold during the dog days of the season. The whole club was turned upside down, but most importantly we spent money on new high quality players.

The above are the facts, the rest is my supposition. We ( SJM & TS) were expecting our youngsters to come through, and so spent very little replacing the ageing stars that had kept us in the top four for several years. Somebody took a decision that we didn't need to replace the likes of Morley, Carvel et al because we had enough quality coming through. That could have been SJM insisting that paying for a new squad each year was simply not possible. It could have been TS insisting that his youngsters were definitely good enough and that the likes of eg. GOB would replace Briers in a couple of years. Perhaps we will never know who actually called the shots, but I have my suspicions.

The above is all a bit simplistic of course. I suspect we did search high and low for a new Briers. And 2015 was complicated by the bad feeling caused by the 'Higham incident' and back room bickering, but I don't think all of the above is too far away from reality. Fortunately we have been allowed a fresh start. Lets hope that we have learned from past mistakes and in future we maintain the quality of our squad through a balance of the youth system and buying- in. It would also be sensible to maintain a balance in the age group range of the squad so that we don't see all the stars departing in a year or two of one another.