These are my personal thoughts which I feel I have to air to see how others feel.
I never thought from the start that Paul March was the person to take us forward as coach.
As a player he was an asset with his experience at the level we were playing at.
In my opinion he has no control over the players as a coach.
From what I can remember 4 players have gone on holiday etc during this season.
Paul White, Josh Lynham, Jesse Sherrife and James Feather (captain)
I don't buy into that these players are only part time.
They have a commitment to the club and supporters for around 8 to 9 months per year.
They play for a team and a club they are not individual sportsmen.
How James Feather the club captain can be away for the most important part of the season is beyond belief.
People say he is committed to the club, he didn't show too much commitment after his testimonial season by signing for Hunslet.
Whatever the reasons he came back for I don't know but he left the club and now after leaving the team for the play offs I think its time for him to go.
The team has become too familiar and too many players are not good enough to take us to the next level.
Ive spoken to Gary on a few occasions and he seems a nice person but he is either nieve or stupid to keep making comments that we have a 5 year plan to be in Super league.
The first time he said after the 5 year period was up we were in the bottom division.
1 year into the next 5 year period we are hanging on a thread to gain promotion.
At the moment we are re signing players not bringing in new faces with the exception of the ex Hunslet player.
Adam Brook is a 20 yo half back with no experience in first team rugby, if we were going to try and show the supporters what our intensions were we would have done what Workington Town did and sign an experienced half back like Jarrod Sammut who has done wonders for them and turned there results around.
The only way the board can get the backing of the fans in my opinion is to let Paul March go and have a clear out.
I would rather see us rebuild in Championship 1 than go into the Championship and get beat week in week out with the same squad of players.
the players I would keep would be Gabriel, Rikki Sherrife, Lawton, White, Handforth, Jode Sherrife, Pursglove, Rawlings, Ash Lindsay, Matt Bailey, Barnes, Lynham, Darville, Kelly.
I don't know the situation with the loan players but we certainly need a Full back, another strong hard running centre, an experienced half back, 2 or 3 big hard props, 2 second rows and a coach that demands commitment and discipline from his players .
I would love to see Tyler Dickinson stay.
I only support the team I don't throw money in as a sponsor and I do know that we don't have bags of money floating around.
Im also pretty sure the board have the club at heart and keep it running in a financially stable way but please stop making false promises that are way off the mark.
You can make statements to fans with your actions regards staff and players then fans will take you more serious.

Interesting comments which will polarise people.

Keighley RLFC in all its former guises and currently is an enigma.

It's a bit of a fish out of water.

As a start, I cannot think of a single school in the area for whom Rugby League was/is the premier team sport during my lifetime.

To my knowledge, the most 'successful' amateur club in the area was / is Keighley Albion but there has never been a club, even though Albion tried, that was National conference level.

To put this in perspective, there is not a strong cricket, soccer or even , now, Rugby Union club in the area, although when RU was played in the schools, the RU club could compete at a higher level than they do now.

I suppose I am saying that all sports in the Keighley area are underperforming.

Please, please, please do believe that this is not casting a slur on the people, especially at amateur level, who give their time and skill freely for a sport they have a passion for.

The RFL have introduced an "new" initiative for the development of the game ( see the RFL website for details), and it is a good start. How and if the Cougars are involved, is speculation at the moment, but I would hope they have some participatory role to play.

The club, I would suggest has to foster solid links with all the RL sides in the area and this has to be a mutually beneficial situation. This cannot go back to the old fashioned one way street of thanks for developing a player, now politely go away.

The sentiment that all involved have the club and the sport have the best of intentions is not questionable. The difficulty is achieving the desired situation with minimal means. It's not impossible, but probably requires more work and even a change of thought.

All I do anticipate is that if the current scenario continues the club and the game, in this area, will continue to stagnate.

Agree there should be closer links/support for local amateur clubs by Cougars. Coaching help from time to time etc. Would like to see Cougars match £1 for £1 agreed expenditure up to say £1,000 or whatever a year each club for Albion, Village, Cowling, Silsden & West Craven. Offer free season tickets for all their registered players. Also for all registered players of Keighley, B&B, Skipton & Grassington RU clubs. But then need a team playing entertaining winning rugby, a coach and directors to create something that a lot more individual supporters and businesses want to be part of.

well Mr Hicks, it pains me to say I agree with much of that

we are going backwards, the resigning of Scott Law sums that up really, two year contract. As controversial as this may be, he was DJs mate and the club are probably being nice. He was the MOM on Sunday apparently

They didnt look up for it on sunday, who can blame them at that place

If we go up, then we need a quality player in backs, halfs and forwards. I still believe in Paul March as a coach. We play dull rugby as we have no offloader, playmaker or darting dummy half players. The solution has to be promotion and investment, otherwise its the doldrums for another year.

The game in truth is on its last legs in Keighley, just seems to be slowly disintergrating. We need another Demetriou type spark, the directors rustled that one up so why not?

Great post from Mr Hicks and absolutely sums up the state of the club at the minute. I've been saying this all season the players just aren't good enough to compete. We have been struggling this season so if we do go up we are going to get slaughtered next season without a major overhaul of bodies.

So why have we been re-signing all this season players? The re-signing of Scott Law says it all, this bloke hasnt been good enough for years. The loss of Shickell and Hesketh this season has been a major one.

Jurys still out on the coach for me. There were moments last year where we were the architects of our own downfall, the knock on against Batley and the last minute against Featherstone spring to mind. That was 4 lost points right there, down to coaching/tactics.

As for the Widnes debacle that for me was embarrassing and bordered on bringing the game into disrepute. Whether that was the clubs or the coaches decision it shouldn't have happened.

So in response to the original topic "what next" I honestly have no idea.

Widnes debacle? Would. You care to elaborate on that?

Putting a weakened team out against Widnes in the challenge cup quarter final. Why we wouldn't want to give it our best shot and go down fighting I'll never know. Not often we are going to have an opportunity like that.

The debacle wasn't the performance of the young lads thrown in at the deep end against Widnes who did themselves proud , but that of some of the team who had been 'rested' for that game , in the defeat at Whitehaven the Tuesday after ...

The lads did do themselves proud on the night that's not in doubt but they shouldn't have been put in that position. They never stood a chance of winning against a professional outfit.

A good post Mr Hicks , as much as I dislike you I have to agree
With 99 percent if what yo have said.
Massive changes need to happen from Players at the bottom
Up through the Coach to to the board at the top , including the ground
And facilaties (sp) on offer. *** No disrespect to the chaps who have
Been doing the painting etc to the ground already this season which
Is and looks a million times better ***
I don't agree with your point about Buster , but I am sure we can
Agree to disagree on that one .
There is a lot of improvements to be made ,
Need non alcoholic refreshment on matchdays ??? No chance unless
You want to pay £2 for carp cheap tea or coffee in a polystyrene cup with a
Lid that doesn't fit ..... That's Dearer than starbucks or Costa .
Want some food ? ...... Good luck , how about a refried chip butty cooked
Old stinking oil on a dry teacake
or a rock hard dried out sausage sandwhich that is guaranteed
To give you acid.
Don't forget the cheap salty burgers ..... infact I will forget the
Burgers ..... think thats it for choice.
Maybe a server who could 'add up ' could be an asset , when struggling to add 80p + 80p and having to ask someone else they May not be the right choice....... even though she is a nice friendly lass.
The catering kiosk at any venue at this level should be a goldmine if run correctly ,
You have a captive audience of which some want to eat , the profits at acceptable
Sports venue prices are enormous - it's not rocket science ( I do know
Having had 4 successful Sandwich Bars in the past )

Need to use the toilets ? Again , good luck , the gents in the bar area stink
Of stale urine - as they have for the last two seasons - and have never seen bleach or disinfectant by the look of it , the outside toilets are even worse , infact nothing short of disgusting.

The announcer , I know he works for free which is fantastic but some of the stuff he comes out with are cringeworthy and unprofessional at best , also , the music after a try , I agree it is a good thing and it adds to the whole atmosphere but does it need to go on so long ? I'm sure who ever is kicking our goals would be better if they could actually concentrate when setting up the kick.

The new paint job on the bottom end gate and turnstiles look great ( top job lads) but what is the first thing you see as you pass through ??? An overflowing skip time and time again. Not a good look.

Matchday club fundraising , One chap selling halftime draw tickets ....... what happened to the 'golden goal ' tickets from a few season ago ? If it only raises fifty quid a match it would do over a grand through the whole season , if the club can't risk the £1000 prize tben drop it to £100 , still a good prize chance for 50p a ticket and a good bit of fun for the crowd .
Half time stand up bingo , again a great bit of fun that just vanished ....... bring it back and get some extra money raised just don't use youths with a frown and chins trailing on the floor to sell the tickets , I'm sure 3 or four people on the gates prematch then walking round during the match selling tickets could rais a few grand of much needed extra money.
How about a few football cards being run before the game ? Again a quick easy cash fundraiser...... just think outside the box !!!

The Coach , Paul March , yeah a great player in his time , still quite good at this level .... pots of experience and gametime and a nice chap to boot . BUT , Coach
Material ? No , not yet at least , yes he carried the players through and handled Danny Jones Death in an impecible way ( as did the whole club ) , but he is not and should not be the players best buddy , he's the coach , end of.
Promotion or not a new Coach is needed , I would rather the club stayed in
CH1 with someone new or maybe giving Buster a chance than promotion with
Paul March.

End of rant for now (and please excuse the typos )

Oportunity, professional team, put the blame squarely where it lies. March picked the team of sacrificial lambs in that game. Even if by accident he had managed to pick the most effective synergistic team out of our entire roster of players we would have lost. Perhaps some of his superstar mates were not up for getting battered by a much better team and were happy to have the get out clause of the must win game at Workington. So much for that strategy. In truth I think you are showing a large degree of disrespect to the lads that gave there all in that game

Apologies the next game was whitehaven, the meaning is the same.

My original point was regarding March and as I said earlier I'm not sure if it was the coach or the club that made the decision but someone did. Also I thought I made it clear that the application and effort of the young blokes on the night was not in question. It was the fact they were put in that position in the first place I have an issue with.

Putting your reserves out in a cup quarter final just shouldn't happen in professional sport. Whatever the circumstances.

Reserves? How many of the Keighley team were not first team squad members? My post made it clear that I do not believe that the team that played that day was our 'theoretical' best but I know of no sport in which in a competition the team selection is made by someone outside the club based on their perception of the teams players abilities and seek to maximise it in specific games. The choice of team that day was down to Keighley,be it the 'coach' or the club in a broader sense. Tactical choices are part and parcel of nearly all sports, my issue is that March is not able to coach players, he is only able to plck them. When we were relegated it was mooted that he would have to manage with a severely curtailed number of players due to financial constraints, circa 22. Can anybody tell me how many players we have had this season? How many of these players have been acquired from supposedly better clubs rather than bringing on the less experienced players that we already have. Is this an admission that March is incapable of improving young players and that he has to trawl the higher level clubs for fringe players hoping that they are the finished article having benefitted from better coaching, ln the true sense of the word, that he is incapable of providing?

I think the club need to make changes on and off the field to move forwards;

1) Community
Firstly Just ask yourself, why did Cougarmania really take off in 1992?? Community, the club became this common bond between people in the town, it was our club. Mick O'Neil and Mike Smith came up with all these ideas to get the club involved with the community, things like the trip to wembley really stood out, the cougars cubs had at least 1 team at every age group between under 8s and 18s. Joe Grimma organised an annual interschools rugby tournament at under 8s and under 11s. later on Jason Ramshaw and Matt Foster coached the under 16s Keighley schools side. Surely this is something the club look at again, I have mentioned this on here before but I am sure there are some things which could be mutually beneficial between the club and Keighley/Craven college, e.g. maybe getting the students who do the media courses to put the programme together, it would give the students experience of actually working on a publication and to deadlines and the cost of putting it together could be covered by sponsorship. Similar things could be done with the website etc, getting local people involved in the club and people who may not have shown interest in the past may start showing up to see what they are playing a part in. Also, I think the club needs to be more invovled in the youth set up, as I believe that what was the Cougars Cubs has gone and is now being run by Keighley albion.

2) Match Day experience
As someone has already mentioned on this forum, there are things like the stand up bingo which would just appear to have disappeared but if people are turning up to watch and getting more of a day out than just the match they are likely to come again, and if there are other things going on around the ground, there are things that can probably be done quite inexpensivley and make some money off, things like facepainting for the kids or maybe a wooden board with some holes in it, and people have to pay £1 for 3 chances to throw the ball through one for a prize. Jam on top based on dalton lane is a rehearsal studio for musical groups, we could even look at doing something with them to get some live music before the matches, again this all comes back to getting the community involved.

I am going to have to cut this short as my lunch hour is coming to an end, I will post the rest of my thoughts this evening.

JP