M A knows the club and knows what he's getting in to.
Make your own mind up what that may be.

I feel much better about this after listening to the press conference.

I'm looking forward to seeing who MA brings on board to work with him.

I do like Minnards too. I trust him to make those tough decisions.

Agreed, his self belief and commitment shone through, as did JM's feelings for the club. This is a decision that has been made with the best intentions in my view. Let's see how it goes.

Mark comes across really calm and concise regarding what he’s setting out for next year in regards to what the club wants. I feel we are banking on using Marks academy experience of playing a more youthful team next year, with hopefully added quality around them. We have a great crop of players coming through with hopefully a fair few ready to step up next year. These are some of the best youngsters we’ve seen come through in a long time so again that’s fairly promising. There can be lots to be potentially negative about, but even Ivan Clearly would have a job on sorting us out for next year…… and some would moan at his appointment.

I seem to remember that it was Mark Applegarth who spoke well at half-time during the Cas victory. It makes you wonder to what extent it was Willie behind the upturn in form, or whether Mark was the person beginning to steer the ship. I don't know, but the improvement came out of nowhere, whereas we had looked lost for so long.

Well done Mark Applegarth… I’ve been impressed by his work so far… sometime you just have to give the talent an opportunity and see what happens!

Ps Minnards management experience is beginning to show through… and it seems he’s coming more to the fore

Back into winter (summer for me) hibernation now…

Been saying that all along. It was as if we had new coach syndrome all of a sudden. The attitude changed and there were small differences to how we were playing which weren’t there before. Of course we don’t and probably won’t know but it certainly seems Mash won’t accept anything but hard work, commitment and the best a player can give.

I'll be honest, when I first heard, I was a little sceptical..

I would have thought, that with WP's win ratio (40+%), I thought he'd only be replaced right now with a more experienced and stronger willed coach, who could change the mindset and cultures within the club. Given the fact that the recently mentioned on here (not be me) players revolt went as far as the BoD. Granted, I did touch on the subject of a part time mentality on the training pitch several years ago, which were dismissed by some on here, maybe that is still the case. Personally I thought that this type of personality was needed, to improve things in the long term and not just short term.

Can Mash change these mindsets, I'm not sure, but I hope so.

One thing for sure, he has my back, just as much as WP, Chessie and previous coaches in the past 40 years or so have.

Just listening to the press conference. Is that Peter Hitchens or John Minards?

I think those saying Applegarth was the reason for the upturn in performances last season are really doing Willie Poching an injustice. I get that people want to find compelling reasons for Applegarth appointment but attributing someone else’s work and efforts to him is a bit of a reach. We saw some very good performances from the team sporadically throughout the season, we strung 2s and 3s together then had a decent finish which IMO was in character for the team.

Applegarth will stand or fall on HIS teams performances and results during the coming season just as Willie has!

On that I find some of the statements by the club/Minards a little bit disingenuous. Based on Carters constant insistence that we spend less than everyone else in SL, where exactly did they expect us to finish in the League?
We lost by one score or less on 8 occasions and finished 10th above Warrington and 10 points clear of relegation. Yes it was frustrating and even worrying at times but Willie Poching was never afforded a complete pre season which included spending the recruitment budget on players he felt we needed. Despite that Poching had a 47% win/loss ratio, tell me the last Coach who bettered that?

Exactly what type of review can you possibly have undertaken, asking players who are leaving the club? Speaking to staff behind Willie Poching’s back while he’s still in post? Sorry but it doesn’t ring true to me and Minnards complete shut down of any insight into what the review entailed suggests to me that there was no review and they just took the decision because they didn’t feel happy with Willie.

Good Luck to Applegarth, I hope it works out for him, the club and the us (the fans).
In 12 months time the decision might look like a stroke of genius but no matter what the outcome good or bad, I’m not convinced by the BoDs explanation.

Listening to the heritage podcast with Corey Hall , he goes on to say how mash can’t do enough to help in any way he can with all the players and goes that extra yard ,and is thought very highly by all around him . Let’s be honest did anyone think Ivan Cleary was on his way , monies tight which ever way you look at it , he’s been offered the job and could have easily said no thank you and gone back to his day job bringing our youngsters on , but he’s grabbed the bull by the horns and is obviously confident he has what it takes to get a competitive team running out at Wakey . Minards says there is money available for recruits and retentions , so expect incomings in the near future . We’ve obviously cut our cloth accordingly , and I for one hope he’s a roaring success and makes the like of Wilkins choke on his sarcastic belittling comments .

What’s Wilkins said?

He called us a laughing stock I believe. If we are so short of money can someone explain why we have increased our cash in hand to over £750,000 and reduced the shareholder’s loan by £80,000.

Pretty much echoes my exaxct thoughts.