To be fair to Radford,he let Westerman play his natural game which suited him and would imagine he would do same with Abdul.Gentle nearly ruined Westerman by playing him in the "modern" role

Abdull's physique makes LF the obvious position for him. But if he has the ability and skill set to play 6 then play him there, we shouldn't shoe horn him into a role just because he's big enough to play there. His size and defence then just becomes a bonus. Apparantly his kicking game was excellent the other night.

Is this the same Gentle that wanted to sign Nick Youngquest rather than give Lineham a chance?
Or the same Gentle that wanted to sign Shannon McDonnell to a long term deal, rather than make Shaul our fullback?
I had sympathy for Gentle, and was sceptical about Radford, but you really are biased if you can't see the shift in focus on giving young players a chance over the last 12 months.

Gentle started the shift though. Radford has taken it further but Gentle put the groundwork in place.

I really hope Radford has learned a lot from his first year. There's plenty to like about him as a coach imo, he just got the job 3 or 4 years too soon. But I genuinely hope he learns fast and can prove that he is up to it. He's making the right noises at least.

I think Abdul would make a very good #9. He has decent pace, good passing and a very good kicking game.

And your bias/unfounded criticism of Gentle as all the Radford lovers show the same, everything to do with a youngster playing or good at the club it was Radford, everything to do with something going wrong it was Gentle..it's complete b@llocks yet peoplecan't wait to keep banging on about it even on this thread which was what my point was.
Gentle gave Lineham a chance though, as he did Crooks, as he did Shaul, he was the coach. yet somehow the mastermind Radford whom has binned off our former dream team member & top scorer from last year, employed a turd of a winger when we had two kids waiting, employed a has being prop when we didn't need one, treated like a youngster whom never had a chance, a coach that has brought in a has being 33yr half instead of using Adbul or Rankin and that same coach that almost got us relegated & you say I'm bias ffs

I'm glad the young ones are coming through, but with out current coaching set up I don't hold much hope that they'll maximize their potential. Moving Abbul into the pack would be a heinous crime but then Radford hasn't the nous to understand that..it seems others here don't either.

Radford did make mistakes last season ,he knows that himself .Its pointless going over who did what and why,we all have our opinion and we will always have a split whoever is our coach is.We need to forget last season and look forward to a new era and I honestly believe Pryce and Sneyd along with young Abdul,HTW and Rankin will give us what we have lacked for years decent backs with decent back up.I have to say if we had gone into this season with Abdul and Rankin as our halves there would have been uproar.Pryce regardless of age is a class player and still has a lot to give and he will prove that.

As a matter of interest who are these people you refer to who 'absolve Radford from any mistakes' ? Even Radford himself admits making mistakes and I doubt there are many out there that vehemently disagree with him in that regard. Who are these people that annoy you so much ?

Gentle would have rather had Youngquest instead of Lineham & McDonnell instead of Shaul, on both occasions it was Radford who pushed the claims of the two youngsters.
I don't think anything else needs to be said.

There's one a couple of posts above yourself for starters. "Absolve Radford of any mistakes" might be a sweeping comment, but there's a lot who seem to want to pin blame on Gentle as much as possible and just gloss over what Radford did wrong.

To be honest I think this idea that there's a swathe of 'annoying' Radford disciples defending his every action cannot be backed up with any real evidence as your post proves.

The frustration for me is that Adam Pearson, in trying to keep people of his and Radford's backs, has just tried to pin the blame of Gentle/McRea. Yes I'm sure we have had players earning far more than they are worth, but this doesn't even begin to excuse our performances from last season. Yet people have bought it.

I don't have a Mrs B style catalogue of quotes, and I'm not going to go trawling through threads to find them. But plenty of people won't say a bad word about Radford yet are happy to pin it all on Gentle.

Just a few posts up we have a guy claiming Gentle wanted McDonnell instead of Shaul, but Radford intervened. The way I remember it was that Shaul acted like a spoiled brat when he was sent to York on dual reg. Gentle wasn't happy but Radford stuck up for him. Oh and McDonnell was and still is the better fullback.

As for Youngquest. It's no different at all to what Radford did with Colbon. Lineham, like Lancaster, was an unknown, and we needed wing cover. Yet people are happy criticise Gentle for NOT, signing Youngquest.

I'm not a Radford hater. I just don't like the fact that a guy who, imo, did a good job for us, is being scapegoated to cover the failings of others.

I agree with a lot of that, well said.