Re: Leigh east

Dave Radley here – thought I would just put a statement out to give my reasons for stepping down at Leigh East as I’ve seen the posts on forums etc. and thought it best to share this.

When I was asked to take over from Gary Grainey part way through last season it was an honour to be asked to take over at Leigh East. Leigh East has been a big part of my life now for over 22 years and to be asked to be Head Coach is a massive honour. I still appreciate being given that opportunity and thank Dave Coyle and the committee for having faith in me and Gary Grainey for bringing me in as assistant at the start of last season. When I first came in as assistant to help Gary I really wanted to try to build bridges at the club as it was no secret that a lot had gone on and needed sorting one way or another. However, that proved to fail for me and there was clearly a divide and again this was well documented throughout last year.

When I took over from Gary myself and Kip had every intention of trying to rebuild the club and try to bring back all the true east people that had sadly walked away. We set out a plan and series of events to not only rebuild on the field but off it as well. To name a few things we had the lads in the gym in pre-season, an open session over xmas and a launch night at the club, all of which we put on the forum and invited all people associated with the club to attend and/or reported on how these events went. The reason for this being that the key thing for me was transparency and it was clear that a lot of people used the forum for information on club events.

The preseason proved to be a success with the aid of Dan Weaving as conditioning coach and the return of Chris Snape to the coaching staff who I must add has been a massive help for me throughout my time as Head Coach. Player numbers went up massively and all signs pointed to a successful season ahead. However when we came to within a few weeks of the season player numbers started to drop dramatically which came as a surprise to me. This carried through into the season and hit us hard – it’s a simple fact that if lads don’t train you can’t possible work on making things right. As a coach I have to hold my hands up and say that it was under my leadership that lads started to drop off which I will take the blame if lads didn’t want to turn up.

I did try to make other changes in trying to recruit past players/new players but to no avail. The fact still remains that some players do not want to play for the club because of issues with people higher up than me at the club. That is not me criticising people at the club it is fact, they weren’t my battles. I was, in the main, stuck in the middle which at times was really tough given I had good mates either side of the ‘divide’. I did cite family and business commitments which is true but I was willing to work with this if I thought I could succeed and make a difference at the club. I did become frustrated at numbers and more frustrated that players would not come back due to fall outs with current committee. At this point I felt I could no longer make a difference so thought it was best to step down now early in the season to allow someone else to have half a chance to turn things round because my hands were tied which is explained above. If whoever takes over can break down these barriers this can only be a good thing. The current crop of lads I feel would benefit from the experience of some former players as they are a good bunch deep down and deserve better than the results that have been coming in.

I will give my honest opinion on the support I have received from the committee. They gave me the job first of all to which I was grateful especially considering I had coached mostly at junior level and only worked with Gary Grainey the one season. My plans throughout the preseason were supported and I was left to crack on with the job which was good. I did request support on matchdays as I wanted to raise the profile of the club and get matchdays buzzing again. I have to say this is an area that has not improved in my opinion. I did ask could I bring Keith Latham in to which I was told that this wouldn’t work due to past issues. I also asked could I bring in Keith for the Launch Night but was also told the same. This is not me putting myself on a ‘side’ and criticising anyone I am just being honest because I think people wanted to know my thoughts and version of events. The committee does work hard and have helped me. However I feel that the help of people that are tried and tested at open age level is now needed. I asked for Keith to be involved because I have a lot of respect for him and he has a proven track record. I realised that things had gone on in the past at the club but I thought surely this could be sorted and everyone could work together to drag the club back to where it should be. I don’t feel that this is going to be the case personally and it’s a crying shame. As I type this message in the back of my head I am thinking ‘am I taking sides, what will people think?’…this shouldn’t be the case as it should be one club and everyone should be pulling together not locking horns all the time.
The fact still remains that knowledgeable, experienced, passionate people both on and off the field are banging on the door and not being let in because of personal issues. The club will never move forward until this is sorted and I am 100% sure of that now. If I am wrong and the club can pick itself up without this help then good on them and I will be the first to applaud the people involved.

Dave