Final league position shouldn't be the only thing that we judge Radford on. If Radford can knock the shocking performances on the head such as Widnes away, Saints at home, Huddersfield last week and Wembley then I would say that's an improvement even if we still ultimately lose those games. At this time it's impossible to tell what FC team will turn up each week and if he can create a team that we know plays with heart and passion every week and gives their all then I would consider that an improvement even if they still end up losing the game.

Minimum should be top 6. He is taking over from a "failed" coach who had two 6th place finishes. When you consider the injuries and retirements and disruptions to the squad then Radford should find top 6 a walk in the park.

If we 'knock the shocking performances on the head', we should win more games, shouldn't we? We lost quite narrowly in a few games we were expected to win this season, and improved performances in those games should have seen us win. We can't possibly improve performances across the board and win fewer games. And even if we could, what's the point? Sport is all about winning.

If Gentle was still in charge and finished 7th next year, would he get away with that excuse?

I think Pearson has made some elementary mistakes since taking over.
My frustrations are centred around him more than the man we've just let go.

He should have the same, but not more. We would have demanded an improvement from Gentle next year, so we should demand one from his replacement too. This squad has underachieved this season, so if Radford is the man to prevent that, we certainly shouldn't be finishing any lower than we finished this year.

This is why I started this thread. It's amazing how suddenly the goal posts change because its a local lad in charge.

That's bollox.
It's all gonna be new and some will give him a chance.
Plenty have already decided they wont.

It's clearly not bollox you only have to read this thread for proof. The excuses have already started and no way would Gentle have been given the same leeway.

You're either being disingenuous or stupid. It's not that people have decided 'not to give him a chance', it's that the whole point of sacking and replacing a coach is to see an improvement. If we'd brought in, say, Nathan Brown to replace Gentle, do you think people would be saying they'd be happy for him to deliver a 7th/8th place finish?

Radford should be given a chance, but he shouldn't be given more of a chance than anyone else just because of the city on his birth certificate. 7th or lower is a failure for a club like ours. If Radford is an improvement on Gentle, he shouldn't be delivering a lower finish than Gentle delivered.

Edit: I'd add to that that it was all a lot more new to Gentle in his first year in charge. He flew around the world and settled in a new place to take over a club he'd had no prior involvement in, and still managed to finish 6th. Radford has been involved with the club for several years, and in a coaching capacity for the last two.

I've already said I expect 6th place next season, but not sure the goal posts have changed. I think PG should have been given another year but plenty of posters were not renewing their passes if PG had stayed because the product on the pitch had become less entertaining, many expected us to go backwards next year if PG had stayed.

Salford are the obvious team that will climb the table, whether they can achieve 6th or higher remains to be seen, Catalan underperformed in many peoples opinions in 2013 and will expect to finish higher next time around and Bradfords new owners are stating top 5 ambitions for 2014, one thing is for sure we will need to improve next year to stand still, and we will probably need to do that next year with a squad that on paper looks weaker. Huddersfield have done exceptionally well this year, and they have done that IMO due to the fact that they have been relatively injury free, hopefully we can have that sort of fortune in 2014.

Yep, no fanfare and trumpets as when Gentle was heralded in.
No more mediocrity.
No more scraping into the 8.
World class 6 and 7 and no more shoddy recruitment.
Believe.

A bitter pill has been swallowed by our leader me thinks.
Reality check installed, and the toughness of the way forward duly noted.

Fook me stupid.
Is it your turn to dry the pots tonight or your lasses?

Er...did you post this on the wrong thread? I'm struggling to see the relevance.