If we win on Saturday

Quote: PC Plum "Roy has a long association with Powell from their South London Storm days so it is no surprise that his misguided loyalty/support is continued on here.

What I do find surprising is that a guy who clearly first and foremost supports St Helens comes on here pretending he has any serious interest in London Broncos. I suspect Roy is a troll.

And Roy, as you like dealing in facts, it is a fact that Powell is not up to the job of Super League Head Coach.'"

For the factual record :

On the subject of allegiances, I'm no different from hundreds of other London fans. I support London against every team except Saints. I see more London games live every year than Saints games, and I and my family have been season ticket holders at London while I've never been a season ticket holder at Saints. I'm not sure applying McCarthyite loyalty tests is the way to go to maintain or increase London's crowds. Suggesting I'm some sort of Saints troll just because I disagree with the majority view on this board is a bit off, to be honest.

I don't have a long association with RP from South London. I left the club to become a referee long before he arrived. I had several seasons where I reffed a couple of games at South London a year, and would talk to RP (and the opposing coach) when I was there. When I returned to the club briefly last year, RP was already long gone. I have no contact with RP, and haven't spoken to him now for nearly a year, when he kindly popped back to a South London training session last year to demonstrate a few drills and give the lads a boost. He's a good egg, but not a close personal friend, or indeed, a lover (as some seem to think).

Obviously I do know him, though, and I'd be some kind of cold fish/psychopath to be publicly calling for someone I know and respect to have their rugby league career ended while still a very young man. So I'm unlikely to ever do that. That makes me a biased source, in historical terms. But all sources are biased to one extent or another. Some people decided before he'd been in charge for a single game that he was the wrong choice, and have seen nothing but negatives ever since. Others have pro-McDermott or anti-McDermott hats on. Some people think Ellis and Gale were top players, so that colours their view, and so on and so on. We're all biased. Doesn't mean we're all wrong all the time.

FWIW, I think that at present, the players on the field are not playing as well as they could or should, either individually, or as a team. RP will be working harder than anyone to try and address that, and hopefully there'll be some progress against Wakefield. Ultimately, if the players won't perform for him then either he or they will have to go. But I think it's a huge oversimplification to suggest that this is all about the coach. There is a malaise about the London club which has been present for several seasons now. There was a gradual reduction in playing talent during the McDermott years, with some good players leaving and not being replaced like for like, and some average players being rewarded with very long and very large contracts. A general sense of drift set in around the whole club which is reflected in crowds in particular. It's not a healthy place, and this board reflects that malaise. It's inevitable that "sack the coach" will be heard. It's part and parcel of the game. But the problems at Broncos go much deeper than that.