State of the Nation

Quote: The Dentist Wilf "Stranger than fiction??

Well I've had 24 hours to think about this and in Beverley this morning I spoke to James Hoggarth who did the interview last night and we both agreed that Adam really did seem on the defensive from the off and that he was pretty withdrawn and reserved compared with his usual bouncy demeanour, Perhaps he was shaken by the threats he had received on line with pictures of his house etc. which of course just isn't on at all, but it certainly wasn't the Adam we have known for so long. But then again I thought perhaps in the middle of one of the worst if not the worst situation we have found ourselves in since heaven knows when, he was a bit desperate in searching for the answer to our demise

Then having read Dan Tomlinsons piece this morning (which I'm told this afternoon was based on a lot of fact and very little conjecture) the whole scenario got weirder and weirder and as some have said you can always rely on the FC never making it dull for us lot the long suffering fans. But none the less I couldn't really see the club plucking a player from Championship obscurity, a player for whom its generally known few fans have much time, (following his past actions on and off the field), who has no experience at all with the administrative jungle that is player recruitment and as many say who has little experience of agents or players down under; then if Adams arm is being twisted somewhat by a potential backer he must himself wonder what he is letting himself and the club in for.

No wonder he was a bit reserved and withdrawn as perhaps he is a bit sceptical himselft. Let's face it if he is having his arm twisted as many have implied he must be a tad desperate. Then he made a strong point early on in his interview that any recruitment had to be run past others which did make me think immediately that he was a long way down the line with sharing the burden of the financial strain with those others and they wanted their say perhaps even in exchange for their backing?

The fact is that so far we are left completely hoping that should this all come to pass Richie Myler is a great success. Who knows he may just be that. But few of us who really care, can't not honestly admit to having massive reservations.

Finally I look at our potential team for Saints and reflect on the fact that we have been nothing short of crap as a team of late yet we have just got rid of two of our 'senior' players with no sign of replacements being forthcoming any time soon. With good players being let go and not replaced like with like year on year, can anyone remember a worse team at the Kc since we went there than the lot we are now left with? Because I can't! With both players returning to Aus with horror stories of what being at the FC is like it won't make mid season NRL recruitment easy for a relatively green Football manager will it?

So, we all await the next twists is this tale (or this soap opera) that would be intriguing and fascinating to follow if it wasn't so close to home and involving the Club we all love, we wanted change, in fact the humiliation of the last four games left many demanding it. Adam was under tremendous pressure with no obvious public support from his Chief Executive etc, and no doubt felt the fans ire, as they held his feet to the flames on social media and in the press. However, perhaps it's a case of be careful what you wish for eh? However think on for if as fans we are struggling what must the interim coaches and the players be thinking particularly after their Coach was sacked whilst they were all together at the training ground on Thursday. No wonder 'The training programme was rescheduled. You bet it was!!!! Its better than Coronatrion Street!

So what do I think about it? Well I don't, because I just don't know what happens next but as one fan said to me in Marks and Spencers today, "If a coach of the calibre of Tony Smith can't make anything of a team in 18 months then that teams fans should be very worried indeed'

Its a fast moving scene indeed and who knows where we will be next week at this time, but one thing for sure we have witnessed one of the most extraordinary weeks we have ever seen at our beloved club since the one that started with Rovers Chairman trying to get us expunged from the competition and ended with us merging with Gateshead. . . What next? Who knows? But Adam is all we have and once again we have to support him and hope that he gets it right. I'm struggling to make head nor tail of it all But just my views and let's face it we all have em!'"

Great summation as always, Wilf. I concur with the other poster who says he misses your blog as I was an avid reader of that.

Wasn't aware that Adam Pearson had received threats. That's utterly disgraceful from whoever was behind that.

I'm not sure I picked up on him being defensive in the interview apart from the part about being adamant that we are spending the salary cap. I personally thought he was being cagey and vague a lot of the time, even contradictory at times. There was a lot said but not a lot of substance to it. I can understand that he doesn't want to name people and he even gave good reasons for not doing so. But he seemed to be going out of his way at times to not even offer any kind of direction on certain matters such as the coaching appointment. Could be a domestic appointment, could be from abroad, could be Grix! Smith's position has been on his mind for weeks one minute, then seemed to suggest that it was something over the previous few days. He really didn't want to be drawn into anything. So I guess you are right, it was a bit defensive.

I think it's safe to say that there's more going on here than we know. But I think if AP thought his interview would quiet things down amongst the faithful, he's underestimated us!

I think that in light of the Myler news yesterday that the investment is a lot further along than he said it was. I also think that the moves we have made this week in releasing Hoy, Brown, Smith and Gene plus saying we plan to appoint a DOR, backroom staff, and bring in players probably means we've already had some kind of cash input which again makes me think that investment is close and will be done long before the end of the season.

It's Sunday so is it a day of rest for news or can we expect another twist in the tale today?