rewind 1.5 seasons we are hammering leeds at home to climb the table, Tronk and Brough are ripping up the league. I suggest those slating kear revisit their posts from then.

Since that day events beyond Kears control have forced his hand. We may not like the cards he has played with his limited deck since then but when we consider the context of his tenure at Wakefield and compare this to the outcomes he has achieved I think he deserves significantly more respect than he has been asigned in this thread.

I think he has been the best and most successful coach we have had in 30 years, not a plea for him to stay by any means but just my end of term report on him.

Agreed. his tenure should be evaluated over the entire 5 year period. We would not be here now without him with such a bright future ahead of us. The time is right for him to leave and he is making decisions that puzzle and at times frustrate and annoy me. However I still think overall his time in charge was a successful one. Cheers Norris lad

oh yes - cos he signed that useless danny brough and glen morrisson and gave richard moore a chance and he turned out terrible too. Come on mate lets have a bit of perspective amongst the zest to slag off one of the best coahes in super league over the past 6 years.

and Bibey, Wilkes, Martin, even Evans in that first season. All castoffs but great for us. Wasn't his fault we couldn't afford to keep them or that they wanted to do other things in Bibey's case. Even Newton was a great signing at the time. No one was to know where that story was leading.

Without going all Churchillian I'm not sure any coach has done so much with so little.

At this moment, Trout is better than Hickey.

Trout has youth and hopefully a long career in front of him
Hickey has some hard work in front of him.

Exactly so instead of wasting wages on Hickey give Trout a proper go. I also thought Gledhill did well when he had a spell last season so hopefully he'll get another go

Those wishing to comment on JK's recruitment should know that it was not his decision alone, rather that of the football committee. I have heard many tales of the discussions held regarding many players who have been 'considered' but of course it was a 'consensus' that would result in the green-light - albeit sometimes players were signed 'reluctantly' to some. They also had a kind of 'veto' in the case that they were dead set against a player.

The point is, some of JK's ideas didn't go through and some of the players signed were not necessarily at the choice of him - including BJ, which is why he let him go when he had the chance! This is not to say that he didn't get many more right!

Am, I right in thinking that it was only the coaching staff and scouts who actually recommended players?

No - of course not! Many of them were suggestions from Ted - deals to be done and all that!

Well said - i couldnt agree more