never took you for a tender soul Standee Well i can tell you something for definate ( not a personal attack ) but i can assure you 1000% that i know RH very very well and he thought that comment was funny too himself personally, he has never ever even discussed , decided or thought about retiring at the end of last season or this one coming and he in fact sees himself as having a lot of football left with a view to going into coaching juniors when his time does come, and that has also been discussed with the club ...
not a personal attack, just facts

not at fc if i had my way after this contract finishes

How old is Wellens? They've just given him a 2 year deal.

And Meli. They appear to have changed the policy this year.

Or maybe they really wanted rid of Longy?

Policy is generally dictated by coach and by the external market. Their new coach and a differing market may have forced their hand to make the change.

I really dont believe it was a policy made up to simply get rid of Sean Long but more a show of faith in Kyle Eastmond to be ready to step into the number 7 role in the near future.

If they had wanted rid of Long so obviously then they would not have offered him a one year contract. Simple.

Just shows they are faced with the same pressures as us, and all other clubs.

If you can't find a replacement, you may have to offer 2 years even though you'd prefer one. Radford, Fielden, Meli all fall into this category. In Rovers case they had to offer Wheeldon 2 years when they were originally reluctant to offer him anything at all.

Well whether it was policy or not they made the right choice because barring a couple of games he has hardly ripped up any tree's when on the pitch, but no doubt he is probably one of the highest paid h/backs in the country!

I'm not blaming Berrigan. A marquee player at that sort of cost needs to be more than just another professional player. Berrigan is exactly that but in my view hasn't justified what the club has paid for his services and I think that he was pretty up front about the fact that he liked to train , turn up , play and go home. Para phrased but he said something along those lines when he first got here. He never claimed to be anything other than what we got although I don't think his form has been that good for longish periods. Costly 4 year deals are for inspirational and influential players who are capable of using those qualities on and off the field and I've never seen that.

Long was so good at Saints, as he had more time to
dictate play, due to a faster play the ball.

Also it does help a halfback, if he has options outside of him, ie players running off the ball, and players who run from deep,and support the ball carrier and back up.

If we dont address these basics, our attack will never improve ,

Regardless of which halfback we play or sign.

Surely you aren't suggesting that Agar needs to sort his gameplan out rather than using no halfbacks as an excuse?

It was the right choice simply because they had the fantastic talent of Kyle Eastmond coming through. Sadly for him he has spent most of the season injured and IMO Saints are not as effective without him in the side he is a tremendous talent.

Luckily for Saints they had a spare half back at Salford who they could bring in late in the season.

30 and 6 months