Fair enough - I have never heard a quote in the press critisising Noble - but when he was up for replacing Smith at Leeds until the players who had played under him for GB had a word in GH's ear - Noble never got the job?

At the end of the day we are polarised about Smith - you think he walked on water I think he did more swimming

So your saying the player's decided who got the job and that GH did as he was told??

I think the players had their input - let's face it as a boss you don't really want to pi$$ off your most valuable employees especially when some of their contracts are up for renewal

What a dangerous precedent to set.
GH may have canvassed opinions to get some feel for Noble but I cannot believe that he would have let their views overrule his own. Look what player power did at Leeds Utd when they appointed Clough.
Would you let your staff decide who was to manage them? I know I wouldn't & didn't.

David we all know you don't rate Smith as a coach and I'm sure you feel you are completely right on this issue.So when a player of Peacock's caliber says he's a genius don't you think be may be wrong?

Compleatly agree and I'm sure that GH used his own judgment rather than that of the players.

leeds,at this moment in time, is a very happy ship.GH is very astute and if he thought that noble would upset all this i'm sure it would have put doubts in his mind.
as for the players opinion on smith i know of at least three,one of whom has said publicly he was great,who despised him.
when the current set of players have retired it could be that more comes out.nobody is going to come out and say the england coach is an incompetant idiot are they

Leeds had brought a lot of juniors into the first team between 2000 and 2003 hence the first team was generally in their early twenties, and was also winning trophies and making finals so was always going to be a steady unit. When so many have been brought into the team there is always going to be a long dip in the number of new juniors coming through because the core of the team is going to be in place for a long time.

The point I have been trying to make all along

Peacock is one view point and perhaps after Noble Smith was a breath of fresh air - also the timing of the book will have had an impact on the comments - not sure Peacock would have spoken in such glowing terms at the end of 2006?

It would be also interesting to see if he still holds Smith in such high esteem after the debarcle of the WC and a year with McClennan in charge.

Which again highlights the good work Daryl Powell did for Leeds in this area and a fact overlooked by some when looking back at his contribution. He laid the platform for Leeds' recent success.

It's a fair point to make but I still saw several players despatched on loan to play SL elsewhere by Tony Smith rather than find some games to test them out at Leeds. Fair enough. When you do that you run the risk of them liking 1st team rugby elsewhere and losing them for good as nearly happened with Burgess at Harlequins.

Likewise, you are not going to get a group of 25 or so highly competitive individuals (all on different pay structures) fighting for 17 starting places in a team, who are all going to like the boss. Especially when said boss has to tell you occaisionally how $h1t you've performed and that you won't be playing for a few weeks because of it.
There won't be a coach in the history of sport who is "liked" by all his players, and many will in fact despise him no matter how successful the team is and how good he is at his job.
I beleive everything you've posted, I just can't imagine it's different anywhere else (even now with Bluey).

I agree with Fur Q.

What a shrewd and intelligent comment.

I think, like all his lyrics, he was being ironic.

Give a dog a bad name and all that.

How do you know that?

If he has changed his mind about a bloke just because he's workerd under another then he's probably very fickle and not the best person to be asking these questions to.

So, if we're to believe the rumour and conjecture posted by Tad and Eccleshill we have to accept that certain players they don't name (and I assume one of them is McGuire) are liars and hypcorites.

Hmmmmm. OK, if that is true then are those players that have allegedly lied to the press a good judge of a character anyway?

Oh, and I am glad someone recognises the sterling work of Darryl Powell. If we believe the rumour and conjecture posted on here Mcguire was going to leave the club if Powell remained, or Smith remained, or Noble was appointed..................

You see this is why I don't believe the rumour and conjecture about players feelings because even if its' true it doesn't reflect badly on the coaches, it reflects very badly on the players themselves.

I agree, but then the latter wouldn't fit with the agenda that certain posters have where Tony Smith is concerned.

How anyone can decry the guys achievements when he brought us 2 titles, a league leaders, another GF appearance and a challenge cup final appearance (losing by 1 point) in 4 years beggars belief.

Were these people watching Leeds through the 80s and early to mid 90s?

If they were however did they cope?

Gareth. You have to understand rumour and conjecture is ok if it's against Smith but if it's for him then evidence to backup your claims is required.

I wish these fans really had something worthwhile to moan about rather than the most successful coach in our history (although I believe will be unseated by McClennan)

here's hoping.

..........but then we'll get "told you so" and they'll have missed the point yet again.

Course they will. They don't realise that appreciating Smith's achievements and Mclennan's are NOT mutually exclusive.

As with appreciating what Powell and Dean Bell before him put in place to enable Smith (and latterly McLennan) to be successful...

Yes

or indeed Laughton before them, or indeed what Hetherington enabled and supported them to put into place.