Head above the parapet : Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:55 pm  

Well, it seems to be just me now. The received wisdom is that SM must go, for whoever takes his place can’t possibly do worse, and acceptance of this seems almost universal.

I find this unsurprising. Anyone who indulges in a bit of schadenfreude by sneaking a look on the boards of whichever side is in a rut will see nothing on RAB that they haven’t seen a hundred, a thousand times before – the coach is clueless, the recruitment is awful, the players don’t care and don’t seem to have a gameplan.

I suspect it stems from the nature of being a fan. We watch the side, desperately wanting it to do well but unavailable to influence outcomes or even to know for sure why they occur. We rhubarb on here and on the terraces, but who would be confident they really understand what is afoot?

No one likes impotence. No one likes being out of control. So the wishful thinking sets in. If only we took action X, an action so simple it can be performed in a single day, an hour, a minute. Then things would be better.

Well, wise up. There is no magic bullet here. The things that made Bradford an exceptional club in the first decade of Super League are gone, long gone. That is partly down to others getting up to speed, and it is partly down to the mismanagement of the club that saw success in the here and now prioritised over sustainability.

Now we have management of the club that is focused on securing Bradford’s Super League status in the long term. And they’re clearly aware that while our contribution to the competition goes without saying, other areas must come up to speed and fast, chiefly youth development and the state of the stadium. Get these right and the club will be stronger on paper and in practice.

Unfortunately, while that is going on, there are still first team fixtures to be fulfilled. People on here seem to think it is still 1999 and the rest of the league are an amateurish set of mugs to be dispatched with ease. They are not and we should be glad they are not. But despite a record that compares favourably with every club in the league with exception of two (the two that sorted their youth system years ago), the myth has arisen that we are exceptionally poor, and that this is proof that McNamara is not and never will be a competent Super League coach.

A look at the league tables during his time should be enough to dispel this. 2006 – better than all but three. 2007 – better than all but two. 2008 – better than all but four. And a dispassionate look at the names suggested as his replacement turns up some startling results. Justin Morgan, a coach widely praised and suggested as a possible replacement for SM by Eddie has these stinkers on his cv from just last year, scorelines that would be deemed intolerable were they replicated by a McNamara Bulls side.

Hull KR 24 v 24 Huddersfield
Harlequins 35 v 16 Hull KR
Huddersfield 50 v 16 Hull KR
St. Helens 52 v 10 Hull KR
Bradford 40 v 20 Hull KR
Castleford 18 v 10 Hull KR
Hull FC 44 v 18 Hull KR
Hull KR 16 v 40 Harlequins
Bradford 42 v 18 Hull KR

What happened here? What is the explanation? Did Morgan forget how to coach his side for these fixtures, which make up a full third of his season? Or is that any side of limited resources will be prone to such performances where fans come away feeling perhaps justifiably that their time and admission money would have been better spent elsewhere.

Rovers’ fans limited expectations have bought Morgan time, though not so much that there hasn’t been similar ‘Have we got the right man for the job?’ hand-wringing on their board from time to time. But among Bradford fans it is a different story. We are the side to have won silverware more recently than any other than the you-know-two. Yet this seems to make us less patient rather than more.

We could have a new coach come in (though what we would pay him with has yet to be explained). He could even turn us round in the short term, though I would be surprised. The club has been on the slide in playing terms since 2003. We had enough remnants of the last great side we had to make it to the Grand Final in 2004 and 2005 but anyone that was on this board back then during the regular season will remember the same miserablism that abounds today was very much prevalent then too. Since then we have had a brief rally in 2007, followed by relapse last year and perhaps this too. The momentum is in reverse and it will take something seismic to have it heading northward again.

We have something seismic. We have two things. OSV and the reform of the youth development system. Neither will impact on first team results any time soon. But Hood and McNamara are working like Trojans to effect those changes. That’s not enough for some. Laughably they urge McNamara and Hood to walk away, unaware that had the pair done just that in 2006 then we would have all got to see what a failing, falling club really looks like. Our pals from the other side of Shelf give you some idea. If we are to avoid their fate then we can’t let fears over what happens next week override our plans for what is to take place over the next decade. Get behind the club and its management during these lean times. I don’t want to be the only one saying ‘I told you so’ a few years down the line.

[Pumpetypump]

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:22 pm  

The only way a coach can hope or expect to keep his job in a crisis is when there are signs of better things to come. That performance against Wigan was so devoid of positives, so entirely lacking in reasons for a shred of optimism, that I simply cannot imagine how Steves position is tenable.

Loyalty is vital in a well run club. Loyalty stopped a hasty decision to get rid of Noble in the season where a grim start gave way to a championship winning run. But misplaced loyalty is the most dangerous thing of all and I worry that Cullen's frankly absurd tenure at Warrington may be the benchmark at work here.

You may have gathered that the Wigan game knocked me a long way off the fence.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:30 pm  

Lots of good, logical and factual stuff in there AF.

I particularly like the thought of several regular (can regular also cover copious?) posters nearly choking on the bile they're having to hold back as they read it

As a Northern/Bulls fan I hope you're right. I'd certainly like to believe all of that. . . . I just don't think we'll get to see some of those people in the longterm future of the club.

I think that the Wigan loss was a watershed match. I'd like to think that it was so in terms of commitment, skill, drive, determination, team spirit for the rest of the season . . . . . time will tell.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:38 pm  

That is an excellent post af and I wish I could say that your analysis was wrong.

The problem that I have, is that whilst development off the pitch is vital, it isn't mutually exclusive to having a decent team.

I don't want to sound like Paul Cullen here, but most of the points scored by Wigan were down to mistakes - something that a coach can't legislate for unless you talk about recruitment and this is an area where I feel McNamara has performed OK (relative to what has been available).

My issue is with the attack - there are still too many flat passes, there is no speed (of thought or foot), precious few dummy runners, little effective offloading and so on. These are things that the current players are capable of (to a degree) and the coach should be rectifying the situation and SM is failing to that.

It is one thing to lose a game through mistakes, but another entirely to not even compete and I don't see how the OSV or Noble's ignorance of the youth system can act as excuses for the lack of improvement.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:26 pm  

Cullen was derided for failure to take advantage of his felicitous circumstaces, namely a wealthy backer, a new ground and a swelled support. None of these trouble SM sadly. Also, Wire appear to have the wherewithal to stand the salary of a second head coach. I don't see anyone with the answers at how we pay of SM and his backroom staff while making an attractive offer to AN Other and whoever he wants to bring with him.

Shaggoth wrote:

The only way a coach can hope or expect to keep his job in a crisis is when there are signs of better things to come. That performance against Wigan was so devoid of positives, so entirely lacking in reasons for a shred of optimism, that I simply cannot imagine how Steves position is tenable.

I just don't undertsand how the Wigan game, bad as it was, extinguishes hope. Wigan themselves were markedly worse at the MM last year, and I suspect in their home pummeling by Huddersfield, but it didn't stop them being the side that offered the most resistance to Leeds and Saints.

I'll give you a game to extinguish hope - losing to an 11 man Saints at Odsal in 1995. Nothing is more woeful than seeing a two man advantage going to waste over the course of an excruciating half hour. I have a feeling Saints even extended their lead! Now we all know that Brian Smith side came good within the course of the next twelve months. Brian McDermott himself, dontcha know, told me that given the state of Super League at the time, the improvment they made didn't have to be so great in order to see a big shift. Now the whipping boys are ready to do some whipping of their own if you're not on your game so it's going to be harder than it was back then, and we're unlkely to see such a quantum leap.

I find it frustrating that while fans on here and other boards constantly decry short-termism in RL's management, then scurry back to the quick-fix position when things get tough. No one on here has established that McNamara is 'crap' and no one has any serious ideas for an alternative. Yet still the clamour is to dive off the cliff, dash ourselves on the rocks and be done with it. Let's get a grip.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:29 pm  

While depressed about performances and unable to see where our first win will come from I fail to see what benefit there will be in sacking our coach now.
His contract is up at the end of the season and if he needs to go he should go then.
For me macs biggest failing is that he lacks any sort of good luck. Many on here say he is full of excuses but he has been genuinely unlucky. If his luck does not improve then we need a planned replacement at end of season

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:33 pm  

Four very well reasoned posts so far (may be more by the time I finish this). Brilliant to see considered reason is starting to displace the understandable initial knee-jerk reactions. I'm just going to pour out some quick - probably too quick - thoughts; time is short so bear with me.

Firstly though Andrew, more fool you cos you know what happens to folk who put their head up above the parapet though...





As it happens, I agree with most of what you said (no big surprises there). But I also find it hard not to have considerable sympathy with Shaggoth's and Stul's concerns. I fear they are expressing the feeling now of a majority of the fans.

I think Bullpower has it right in that the Wigan debacle (I don't want to credit it with calling it a match) will prove a watershed. We simply cannot afford to see a repeat of that - the club more than everyone. That game made us the pitiable laughing stock of the game, and much more of that and you can forget all the future positives - we'll not get there as a club if the support and prospective recruits and prospective sponsors lose hope!

But a similar issue has been dominant on the Pieboard and the Wireboard of late, and so its not just us. And, as with them, its surely just as fixable, so I'm not sure we need to all go looking for that rope and a low beam - or a scaffold - just this minute. (Even if knowing where to find them if needed might be prudent... )

There are clearly severe constraints behind the scenes at the moment. Back to that in a min. What matters most immediately though surely is to make sure Saturday is seen to be the nadir, and to see serious improvement - and quickly? Steve seemed to be at a loss to understand or explain the debacle - injuries and illness notwithstanding - and unfortunately for him it is HE who is charged with getting to grips with it and fixing it. Sacking him before he has had the opportunity to do so would be counterproductive madness IMO, unless there are compelling and urgent reasons which make that essential. Completely losing the dressing room is the only such reason I can think of - surely that has not happened??

Wakefield have shown us that you don't need a team of superstars, or even anything like a full uninjured first team, to perform well and above expectations. Seems we need to learn something from their achievement and pretty quickly? The difference APPEARS to be that they were playing as a team and were working their gonads off for each other. I suggest that's what Bulls fans want to see from our lads, cos its not looked that way? That's got to be the challenge for Steve and the senior players this week - and the injury crisis is not doing them any favours. Thats my tuppenceworth, anyway.

Whatever else needs addressing, giving the fans hope that Steve is right and we WILL see a big improvement has to be the priority now. Shaggoth hit it spot on there IMO.

But, as I have alluded to elsewhere, I think we also need the club to level with us a bit more and tell it how it really is. And if that means being brutally honest about the financial implications of disappointing attendances, about the financial implications of having no wealthy backer in a city which is going to hell in a handcart right now, about the morale and motivation implications of fans being on certain players' backs all the time (especially Platt who some campaigns are making a scapegoat) and about the reasons behind some of the recruitment and off-field decisions that have been taken, well so be it.

Until some of the facts of life are a bit more clear - and that especially includes the future opportunities being pursued and not just the current challenges and constraints - too many folk are going to continue to think we are indeed still in 1999. I think the club needs to consider whether the need to maintain a very upbeat public position and confidentiality regarding the business generally is proving counterproductive?

And if, having heard the facts of life some "fans" choose to walk, well that was going to happen sooner or later anyway, I suggest? But hopefully the rest of the fans - and a whole load of waverers and maybe fans - might then have better understanding of the causes of where we are now and not just the symptoms? And see the club as again something worth sticking with and backing, and supporting, through the difficult times until things DO improve?

So I suggest the coach, the team AND the board need to each play their part to get the fans back onside. And soon. Cos we all know what happens to a house divided; and we've seen in the past what can be achieved when club, team and fans are relatively united in what we are seeking to achieve and how we get there.

We all need to find the way to become united again in hope and confidence in the future.

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:52 pm  

BTW, have a look at Salford. They sacked their coach, a former Bradford assistant under Noble who had a strong first full season with the club before a disappointing play-off exit and subsequent tailing away the next season. They replaced him with an experienced trophy-winning coach, as good as any they could hope to attract. How's that working out for them? Doesn't appear to have been a miracle cure, does it?

: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:55 pm  

af wrote:

BTW, have a look at Salford. They sacked their coach, a former Bradford assistant under Noble who had a strong first full season with the club before a disappointing play-off exit and subsequent tailing away the next season. They replaced him with an experienced trophy-winning coach, as good as any they could hope to attract. How's that working out for them? Doesn't appear to have been a miracle cure, does it?

Exactly.

And they had a Wilkinson to pay for it.

: Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:14 am  

benjcake wrote:

While depressed about performances and unable to see where our first win will come from I fail to see what benefit there will be in sacking our coach now.
His contract is up at the end of the season and if he needs to go he should go then.
For me macs biggest failing is that he lacks any sort of good luck. Many on here say he is full of excuses but he has been genuinely unlucky. If his luck does not improve then we need a planned replacement at end of season

Too bloody right my friend.

And not just him, but the club as a whole. And, as we saw tonight, so it goes on.

But you'll get no sympathy for that view from other teams' supporters - we are just whingers blaming the Clown, Hetherington, Ganson, the RFL, the Council, the Foreign Office, Uncle Tom Cobleigh... (even though it IS all their fault, especially old Tom... )

And not that much from most of ours either.

And in fairness, regardless of whose fault it is we have to play the hands we are dealt. As does every other club. Life was never fair; we just have to live with it. I'm sure Steve is as alive to that as anyone.