We've all been looking for a few more answers as to why the 2015 season has been so bad. The club haven't really wanted to tell us the details - preferring to look forward rather than look back.

In the Free Press article on Thursday 17th September, Carl revealed something that hadn't previously been disclosed:

“As was the case with Paul Cooke and Tony Miller before him, recruitment is all in the hands of head coach Gary Thornton."

This suggests PC had total control over the squad for 2015 and was happy with the side he'd put together. Was it PC's judgement that was wrong, as opposed to the club not making funds available?

Why don't they just explain that then if that's the case.
Not a difficult statement to make?

Double Movement raised an interesting issue on signing authority.

Although C Hall stated, [i“As was the case with Paul Cooke and Tony Miller before him, recruitment is all in the hands of head coach Gary Thornton”[/i. He also went on to say, [i“Gary, …, has full say on who he wants to bring to the club and my only role is to make it happen if I can and to decide whether the players fit into my budget”[/i. So it is being made clear that whilst Gary has a big say in what he wants, he has to work within the financial budget constraints. So, because of the money, C Hall has the final say. It is a bit like wanting a sirloin steak, but you can afford only a couple of sausages.

Looking at this article, the RFL have cut the money to Donny by £125,000. The owners are putting some money in, and C Hall is fundraising.

However, the point that Double Movement raises is an interesting one, for mid-season on the 17th July 2014, we were introduced to a new 20 year old ex rugby union Leicester Tigers player. The club write up sounded very good. The reality was different. P Dunn’s tackling was good, but his positional sense and lack of game awareness was there for all to see. Who selected P Dunn? Given his clear lack of knowledge of Rugby League, why was not given more training before being allowed to play at Championship level?

Just because he played Union, it is no guarantee that he could play League. It is a bit like expecting someone to play badminton just because they can play tennis - or expecting someone to play chess because they can play draughts.

Coming back now to P Cooke, like G Thornton, I cannot see him having total control. At the 2015 squad selection time, many fans seemed to be puzzled over the total lack of experienced new players. We do not know the budget constraints that were placed on P Cooke. Also, we may have expected an availability of good Hull FC players to fill any breach. These may be two of the management errors – too many inexperienced youth and a miscalculation on the availability of good dual reg players.

Looking back to the start of 2015, Stand-Offish said, [i“With all these youngsters we must have the most unpredictable team in the division. Forrest Gump mode ... The Dons are like a box of chocolates ... you never know what you're gonna get.”[/i

Also, Onedon wrote, [i“Hope we have enough experience to avoid the struggle of relegation.”[/i He also stated, [i“Looks like we will be relying heavily on D/R.”
[/i

Love it to bits that post. You would have to be completly wet behind the ears not to grasp the thought process behind it. The question once again is about trust, and for me it just enforces my lack of faith in the financial side of running the Dons hence the reluctance to go for a couple of season tickets or anything to do with the alleged squad builder fund.

The financial side of things will probably always mean that the club have the final say on who we can sign but I think the statement made by Carl lowers the possibility that there was some cunning master plan to tread water in 2015 with the club insisting that we went for youth.

We're never going to know how much the club's budget was, or which players they refused to sign (that PC wanted) because they were deemed to be too expensive, or be able to compare our budget to those of our rivals. All we have been told is that the 2015 budget was the biggest ever in the club's history ... which would make them very expensive sausages!

I felt the implications of what Carl said could (and should) have been made public before now. Even though it's not the definitive answer as to why this season went wrong, it does help us to understand the situation a little better. More clarity would also be helpful but I doubt it will be forthcoming.

My guess is that we were also relying heavily on Hull to plug any gaps we had, and that didn't happen. All the top clubs in the Championship kept away from DR. It creates a huge instability in knowing who is going to be available from week to week. I hope one of the lessons we have learned from this season is that we now recognise that we must take responsibility for ourselves. We cannot rely on Hull, or anyone else, to bail us out if times get tough.

We probably all feel a sense of relief that this season is drawing to a close. Let's hope we hear some more positive news of signings soon. I would expect more names to be revealed next week as many players will have played their last game for their current clubs this weekend.