He is a nice fella.....he's just not a SL standard coach. The "anger" is no directed at him persay, more at those who defend his record whilst head coach of Harlequins Rugby League....he wasn't good enough then and he isn't good enough now.

It may only be 7am, but yes I agree with Gutterfax! for me BM is more someone for working on fitness, Never a Super League coach & never will be, like RP Brian was given too long with us and it is beyond me how Leeds ever went with him when you look at coaches they have had in Super League.

Yes very strange choice. One of these British head coaches who got a reputation as a future great head coach on the basis of nothing.

The main problem with Mac is in his acquisition and retention of players.

I can't think of an overseas signing he has ever made who has been a true stand out player in Super League.

He seems to always sign hard working tacklers rather than anyone with star quality.

His other problem is that he takes no account of age, injury record, decline in form or factors like average age of the side etc. Also he won't evaluate what other offer a player might get.

He will thus dole out four and five year contracts willy nilly but without any offence does he really expect Sinfield to be at the top of his game at 34? And is Brett Delaney worth a five year deal?

At Quins he was offering new deals to guys whose appearance record and performances suggested severe decline of which several had to be paid off early.

He tends to give youth a run but will quickly discard players, just think how many different players came to us from Leeds and Bradford but got hardly any chance, just a few games. Several signings didn't get a single game!

As sure as eggs are eggs you will be left with an ageing squad on relatively long term contracts with Mac. He will have the odd good run of about 4-5 wins in a row but the majority of the time he will lose more than he wins.

When he has money he will be more likely to end up with a Robinson, Williamson or journeyman from someone like Crusaders or Wakey than a Puletua or Carmont.

Mark that description of BM sounds similar to Big Sam at West Ham, he is exactly the same, even if he got us promoted.

Hi JayBs, I would suggest that Big Sam has an amazing knack of finding talent at relatively cheap prices.

Consider the free transfers of Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Bruno N'Gotty, Kevin Davies and Ivan Campo whilst he got exceptional performances from the likes of Gary Speed and El Hadji Diouf at bargain fees.

He also brought in unknowns from obscure leagues such as Tal Ben Haim and Ali Al Habsi plus found inexpensive players like Abdoulaye Faye and Florent Laville to bolster his team. Not everyone he signed was immediately successful but he signed a young Jonathan Walters and Ricardo Vaz Te. He would look anywhere for talent.

If you consider that he signed Michael Ricketts for £400k and got him into the England team plus got performances from the likes of Nicky Hunt and other journeymen you'd have to say he was one of the great managers. Four consecutive top eight finishes from Bolton is an unbelievable feat.

Brian McDermott has only discovered one promising player in his career and that is Luke Gale.

He promoted a few players into the first team squad at Quins but it is a short list as many were already signed by Tony Rea and in the squad prior to his arrival e.g. Louie, Tony Clubb, Will Sharp etc.

In fact most of the Academy players from his era are at London Skolars; the many youngsters signed from Yorkshire are without exception playing in the National Leagues and his overseas signings are pretty much all retired as they were on their last legs when they joined us.

So I would say you have one guy who trawls around for talent and one guy who doesn't. One who will sign a player with hundreds of games of wear and tear in a punishing sport and one who gives youth a genuine chance.

Funnily enough many of the Tony Rea overseas signings are still here - but where is Mac's legacy?

There is probably only David Howell, who is believed to be on a six figure contract and who is perenially injured and the decent Chris Melling still here.

2008 pre-season fans forum at the Patch...the one where I asked him twice where we'd finish that year and he said first, then scowled the second timne I asked him......
Howell has been very unlucky with injury and certainly is struggling for form. I doubt he wanted that situation either.

Though I really don't know what is being meant by the fans forum bit. Person asks question and receives a very positive response from coach setting out his desire and expectations. Then is asked exactly the same question. Did you expect a no sorry we are and we'll struggle to get tenth or I have built up a strong squad capable of a strong finish for at least tenth. What level of pessimism would you prefer?

Biting another player is not the way to show your frustration of a lack of form......he has a bad temper (remember the near decapitation in 2008?)....good players knuckle down and try hard...he spits his dummy out IMO.



We finished 9th........it's all well and good saying "we're going to win it" but a dash of reality wouldn't have hurt. He was arrogant about it.....he ended up with egg on his face....it didn't get any better in 2009 or 2010 either...maybe if he'd been less of a and more realistc, we wouldn't have finished in the 2 lowest positions the club had experienced in 14 seasons prior.

Anyway, my opinion of his answers at a forum are neither here nor there........his stats speak for themselves!

Not sure a biting incident is necessarily directly related to his performances. There are enough players out there in far better teams than ours doing stupid things while in good form. Quite agree he has a nasty streak about him and there is more than one high shot he has spent time on the side for. I do think he is currently more of a liability than a positive. That said he tried hard on Saturday and did nothing blindingly bad.

Its nice to use hindsight to defend the position and that probably always was the reality but as a marketing person how much reality and honesty do you want. I'm the coach, we're as I've seen us train, market that please?

If we're still talking about Mc's ability as a coach, there's a few things that appear to have gone unmentioned.

Firstly, at 'Quins, he apparently had to make do with what he'd got. And,

Secondly, at Leeds, he inherited an aging team which obviously was going to need some fairly major adjustment - the chairman said as much last week.

In short, Mc had little option here and, at Leeds, took over from Bluey who'd done nothing for two years apart from play Smiths team and then quit a year early leaving Mc in the proverbial... Which is,

A bit like Dalglish first time round at Liverpool who used Paisleys team to great effect, quit, and left Souness (who tried to implement rapid [necessary] change) to carry the can.

So, while Mc may not be the greatest leader of our time, he hasn't done bad with what he's got. Period!

Hello Boyne,

It is indisputable that Mac had the opportunity at one point or another, as contracts came to an end, to release every player in the squad that he inherited.

He re-signed a lot of quota players of a very ordinary standard like Gafa and Heckenberg plus was always there with one last contract for those whose best days were behind them. With decent money available he signed ordinary players like Robinson and Williamson or Pacfic Islanders who didn't show up.

You could be fair and say with his low budget signings that they were unlikely to be top notch.

At Leeds he started with an ageing pack and added further to that by signing Richard Moore (31), Weller Hauraki (27) and Darrell Griffin (30). He than persuaded Kylie Leuluai (34) to delay his retirement and offered Jamie Peacock (34) two more years. He has released Jay Pitts (22) and Luke Burgess (25) plus Paul McShane (22) and Kyle Amor (24) have left for this season.

By comparison Graeme Souness was stuck with an ageing squad with Ian Rush, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Steve McMahon, Ray Houghton, Jan Molby, Ronnie Whelan, Steve Nicol and Bruce Grobbelaar all in their 30s. However he was courageous in wanting to bring through the likes of Redknapp, Fowler, Rob Jones and McManaman. He just made bad signings elsewhere.

The Scousers were not patient enough to let him see through the job - so things have not really changed there! - but he did bring new young players in. The easier option would be to simply renew everyone. I put it to you that Mac would take that option every time given the chance. The Board comments reflect that. Our squad also reflects that. It as if he would not stand back and say "well this guy is 32 and has missed x games in the past two seasons and is on the quota" but simply think like an Army man and look after his men.

Basically the Leeds board have noted that the average age of the squad has increased not just the 1 1/2 years which would have naturally occurred since Mac was appointed but by much more because of his lack of any forward planning.

You'll probably note that just before he left us that David Hughes was delaying the re-signing of Danny Orr after having his fingers burnt once too often!

I think if you were to look at Mac's record in the regular rounds at Leeds he is the worst manager they have had since Super League 1 when they finished 10th from 12. His last 40 games for us were as bad as Powell. He took us from 7th to 9th, 9th again, 11th then 13th.

What he has got is the ability to have a short run of games in which he gets a hot streak like a gambler and he can be very lucky at times. Just think back to last season. What a lovely draw in the cup, home games against the likes of Crusaders and Quins all the way to the final, last minute drop goal misses, broken arm in play off games etc.

He didn't play in a thinking position like e.g Nathan Brown who was a Hooker, so it is unlikely he has the tactical strategy down to the same level as some of his opponents. His focus is on the physical rather than the mental. He can motivate that is for sure, but it is more short-term than long-term. He must depend on muscle over mind.

Cheers
Mark

Should we expect Hudds to fail next season with fatty Anderson at the helm?

Hello East Stander

I would suggest that Huddersfield will remain in the top eight next season because they have a recent history of repeatedly plundering their Yorkshire rivals of Wakefield, Castleford and to a lesser extent Bradford. This ensures their rivals do not improve. The same happens with Warrington and Hull raiding Salford. I don't see Widnes making the top eight anytime soon. The new London coach will be stuck with a limited number of trades so I don't see top eight next season. It wouldn't surprise me if Nathan Brown starts plundering London for Caro, Clubb etc. He is good at tapping up.

For Hudds they will not be stronger than Wigan and Warrington no matter whether they have Wayne Bennett or Rob Powell. They are historically bottlers who fail on TV and fade away in the second half of the season. I think that is down to the collective mentality ironically of signing from lower league clubs. They lack the mentality and belief of champions. But the big athletic backs will overpower many and they will be above Leeds and St Helens because they replace legendary club trained players with unwanted NRL players and weaken year on year. Hull will be above them next year as will the Cats. I'd ping them as 5th. Hull KR will never do more than make the bottom end of the play offs because they regularly lose to the bottom six.

I think Nathan Brown has got out at the right time with his forwards in decline and rivals strengthening. If he can sign good NRL players at Saints and tap up the talent at the bottom six for free as is his strategy he will do ok at Saints. They will never again have a Wellens-Martyn/Pryce-Long-Cunningham-Sculthorpe spine for a decade or more but they can be 3rd at best

Cheers
Rammo

Hi Mark,

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to reply to my posting (and also to East Standers, above) in such a well thought out, lucid and lengthy manner. I can't really argue with statistics and so on so I'll keep my mouth shut on that. I think your most impressive feat tho', was naming those Liverpool players over 30 and remembering the shambles at the time.

Anyway, keep writing good entertaining posts.

All the best, Boyne