regardless of the score friday nite,i'm proposing we all stay behind after the game in protest to mcnamara been our coach,surely the board will have to listen to us if we all stick together!A nd we all know what excuse is coming after fridays game,well we have alot of injuries at the minute which isn't helping,but theres alot of positives to take from the game!
Come on people lets stick together and force the board into a decision!

I disagree. Last night was a team without heart & direction.

Even better...how about giving them a clear solution to the problem, fully costed and achievable and with the funding in place, so they just need to rubber stamp it?

Of course, if you are just an [iagent provocateur[/i, this is exactly the kind of action you would want the fans to take...

so what do u suggest?they carry on with mcnamara?because if u have the clubs bests interests at heart u should surely realise mcnamara has to go!i honestly dont think peter hood is man enough to sack him unless the fans start calling for his name!

What I suggest is what I suggested above - don't just call for the coach's head, however justified many may feel such a call to be - put forward a proposal for his replacement that involves both a coach who might want to come and who would be generally acknowledged as an improvement, and the funding to see it happen.

Also, I'd draw your attention to a rather pertinent quote in Bullseye's sig - something like "If you start listening to the fans, you'll soon be sitting with them".

And for that matter, few people get on the board of sports clubs because they are hesitant shrinking violets. Is anyone going to admit the fans were right and they were wrong (regardless of who is right)? Try holding a gun to the head of any club board and all you'll likely do is drive them further into the bunker. Do you want that?

so would u be quite willing to let mcnamara keep his job to the end of the season just to save a few quid?i'm sorry but we must have a few quid still in the pot after missing out on bird!my new coach would be brian mcdermott if he was willing to leave quins!he has a lot history with the bulls,i know mcnamara has but he comes accross as too pally,pally with the players which i dont think is the right thing to do in any professional sport!brian mcdermott certainly isn't that type of guy and i think given a chance he could do well wipping our lazy players into shape and telling them to pull there finger out or they will be shown the door!

I'd be happy to see Paul Cullen take over right now, he would be an improvement.

Fair enough - happy to acknowledge a well-argued proposal in response to my somewhat aggressive challenge.



My guess is that Brian Mac could do a pretty good job if the position was vacant - I'll pass on whether it should be vacant for now. Not sure how much it would cost to pay London compo though, and if there ARE Bird funds available would it make sense to raid the playing funds pot (assuming we'd anyway not sourced some external funding for the signing)?

I suspect there is more to the present difficulties than meets the eye though. Unless and until we know more of whats happening behind closed doors, people are going to keep attacking the symptoms and not necessarily the causes, I suggest?

What exactly is it we're supposed to be building, something that is a shadow of the potential of a club like Bradford? The wait and see argument no longer holds. Last night Cas beat Catalans and James Evans was a standout with two tries, one a superb solo effort. He rarely did anything wrong in a Bulls shirt, saved our Bacon in the Centenary match against Leeds and was as safe as houses in defense. So what did McNamara do in his rebuilding phase - get rid of him and sign more second rowers, just at the point decent centres were at a premium.

Nor do I believe this council of doom from people like Adeybull - whose argument seems to be (he'll correct me if it isn't) we can't get rid because it'll cost us money, we're not sure who might want to come and coach and unless we know everything going on behind the scenes and have a perfectly worked out alternative, including having audited the accounts, the status quo should be preserved.

The status quo and the tolerance of it for so long is what is killing us. There's nothing being built, it's being actively, if not intentionally, undermined instead. Macca's a good assistant coach, but he's not been able to prove himself as a an SL coach with a side like Bradford. Many, many coaches would love the opportunity he's had and they'll be beating the door down for the opportunity should it become available. Time to look again, start afresh and change the culture of wait and see. Waiting too long will see even more decline and reduce the pool of applicants, not enhance it.

Tigertot is right, there was no heart and soul yesterday, heads dropped easily and there was a resignation to losing long before it became a certainty.

Unfortunately, there now seems resignation to losing before we even kick off.

Unfair given that the club wanted to keep him and would have had they not been misled on the RFL as to which players would be counted on the quota.


If we become a club that sacks coaches every couple of years, prepare for a lot more mid to lower table finishes to tolerate.


The youth structure is coming on, but it isn't a quick fix.


He's had his moments, but faces a challenge now.

Time to rip up all the work we've done in the best few years and start again from scratch.


Maybe. But sides have been a lot worse than this and come back to have a say. Look at Wigan last year for example.

Another one of the favorite excuses trotted out. Normally during a rebuilding phase there's signs of progress oblivious improvement but we aren't getting that. The classic example of this is Castleford who finished bottom of the league last year. The went away looked at the areas they need to improve on and went out and addressed them that's rebuilding.

Quote ="redeverready"oblivious improvement'" Freudian slip. Brian Mac always gets mentioned approvingly on here, but where's the evidence that he's improving matters at the club. Not here... www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html ... but because it's not taking place at Bradford, he gets a free pass. I think Brian Mac probably is a good coach that is making an impact that can't be seen in first team results just yet. I hope he gets the opportunity to see things through at Quins, it's their best chance to become competitive. But it's going to take time...

Quote ="redeverready"oblivious improvement'" Freudian slip. Brian Mac always gets mentioned approvingly on here, but where's the evidence that he's improving matters at the club. Not here... www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html ... but because it's not taking place at Bradford, he gets a free pass. I think Brian Mac probably is a good coach that is making an impact that can't be seen in first team results just yet. I hope he gets the opportunity to see things through at Quins, it's their best chance to become competitive. But it's going to take time...

Is it the club signed Steve Menzies knowing that we would have one overseas player too many. When the decision came to decide which of the out of contract overseas player to keep Evans or Tadulala thay opted for Tadulala not Evans so hows that wanting to keep him.
Why if the coach at the time shows he's improving things then their won't be a problem.
Most people would except that. But you can't get away from the fact that the first team isn't. What's more important to attracting fans a good youth programme or a competitive first team.
The bad performances far outweigh the good ones.
Yes because it's not returning the required results
This is the thing you don't seem to be able to grasp. The problem isn't just now it's been building for a while like only 7 wins from our last 18 games which have come against only 4 different sides Hull KR, Hull FC, Castleford and Wakefield. An away record of 4 wins in the last 16 games.

We often talk about re-building but we're still going through the decline. Things are a real mess at the moment. The present squad is seriously imbalanced and for the most part looks short on confidence, desire and quality. I can't see where any improvement is to come from without an injection of cash or new ideas. The coaching team seems increasingly baffled by performances too. Can we be sure that if we stick it out that we'll definitely see the benefits? It's a real test of faith!

The club has made much of junior recruitment but are obviously not yet ready to play the youngsters in the first team. On the one hand one can appreciate that you don't want to ruin the kids by playing them in a poor team, look at how Wigan lost a generation of players by doing exactly that. On the other hand in 98 we were forced to play the kids and the likes of Fielden, Deacon, Peacock and Pryce came through.

It struck me on Saturday night that our re-building process is likely to take much longer than that we went through in 98. Cas's re-building process has taken years and a visit to NL1 on the way. I remember Leeds going through a similar terrible period between 99 and 2003/4. In some ways we're rather like that Leeds side of 2001. A lack of quality, a young coach playing gcatch up and the kids not ready yet to come through. Meanwhile the fans called for Powell's head and bemonaed the poor recruitment they made.

Where the comparison with Leeds ends is that back then they had Caddick guaranteeing their financial position. They could plan long term without fear of going out of business, and I doubt they had to cut backroom staff, in fact they built the Leeds rugby complex at Kirkstall.

We however are in a tighter spot. If the first team can't improve significantly then crowds and income will drop to a level where we can't afford to keep the promising youngsters who'll get better offers from other clubs. Where will we be then?

I fear that drastic measures may soon be necessary and if that means a shake up in the coaching team then we'll have to bite the financial bullet in the short term or face the long term going down the toilet.

Quote ="af"Freudian slip. Brian Mac always gets mentioned approvingly on here, but where's the evidence that he's improving matters at the club. Not here... www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html ... but because it's not taking place at Bradford, he gets a free pass. I think Brian Mac probably is a good coach that is making an impact that can't be seen in first team results just yet. I hope he gets the opportunity to see things through at Quins, it's their best chance to become competitive. But it's going to take time...'" Ive never said I wanted McDermott as coach I believe we need some with more experience.

Quote ="af"Freudian slip. Brian Mac always gets mentioned approvingly on here, but where's the evidence that he's improving matters at the club. Not here... www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html www.slstats.org/t12/Harlequins%2 ... mmary.html ... but because it's not taking place at Bradford, he gets a free pass. I think Brian Mac probably is a good coach that is making an impact that can't be seen in first team results just yet. I hope he gets the opportunity to see things through at Quins, it's their best chance to become competitive. But it's going to take time...'" Ive never said I wanted McDermott as coach I believe we need some with more experience.

Exactley. The argument for keep McNamara is that we can't afford not to is weak. If the performances and results continue as they are more and more fans will stop coming to games. Die hard fans will come to games because were playing. But the less committed come to be entertained and it they aren't they won't waste their money much longer.

I just hope that if the decision is made to make the change then we don't just bring in someone of equally unproven ability. I think what the squad needs is a coach to inspire them with confidence and who has experience they can respect. A new coach needs to have a proven track record, preferably of getting players to perform above themselves. Is there anyone out there that fits the bill? If there isn't then we risk not managing to fix the problem and end up spending cash we can ill afford. It's not a decision to take lightly.

I still think it's too early to boot out Macca, however Saturday's performance was a huge backward step.
I fear there is a bit more going on behind closed doors than we know about.

The most disappointing element was the lack of fire and enthusiasm being shown by pretty much all the players.

I took 5 people to their first live RL game. They were genuinely excited about going, had adopted the Bulls, were making up songs beforehand etc etc. 60 mins in one of them said "I thought this was going to be a good game? We're getting battered. Can't we support Wigan instead?"
That about summed the evening up for me!

I like others have mentioned think it's time for some honesty from our club.
I could live with finishing bottom of the table if I understood the reasons behind it and was given some confidence about future plans.

After all we've seen in Australia the club finishing bottom go on to win the title the following year. This demonstrates what can be done with the right set up off the field as well as on it.

Is the whole sporting village drama distracting everyone?
Is there no respect for Macca from the players?
Do the players believe they are good enough?

I'm afraid at the moment; there are more questions than answers for me.

Good post Wigsy, you sum up how I feel too. I can't help but feel there's more going on than we know about on here. Some straight talking would probably help and stop a few knees jerking (including mine!)

I'm not for a change in coach unless the new guy would be a definite improvement and the names mentioned so far by others don't get me enthused.

Well every cloud has a silver lining as i talked one of my friends from Wigan to go to the game. It was her first game and she loved it.

All she said to me was "i thought bradford were ok."

I was that wound up i even said i hope the Rhinos batter you next week.

There are comparisons with Cas, though we never had the success of the Bulls to build on. A succession of average or crap coaches damaged the strcucture & goodwill of the club. But we survived 2 relegations & the break up (rape) of a potentially outstanding core of players. Cas are a smallish club who do not expect success as a right & are prepared to stand for a period of failure partially because we know there will always be a nucleus of outstanding youngsetrs coming through. All that is needed is someone at the helm to direct the ship. Matterson is proving better than I expected, even though I would rather see a British coach (& I admit to liking Cullen) there would be a queue of ex Aussies down Manchester Road if the Bradford job came up.

I disagree - Wigan were certainly up for it but Bradford's defence was appalling, particularly one on one and close to the line. Once Wigan broke the line it looked like the rest of the team had given up.

I could be wrong - we'll see next weekend when Wigan come to Headingley

Obviously there were a number of factors behind our success during the 90's and early 00's, but it owed much to a number of inspired signings. Players such as Paul Anderson, Danny Peacock, Withers, Forshaw & Gartner were real bargains and huge successes. The likes of Les and Hape maybe cost a bit more but were still gambles. We "out-recruited" every other club during the period 1996 to 2003.

Morrison aside I cant remember the last signing that has really come up trumps, that has made fans of other clubs question why they hadnt gone for him. The signing of Harris by Noble obviously started the rot, but MacNamara's recruitment record has been extremely disappointing. Solomona has been a costly failure and his other signings have generally done no better than was expected and usually far worse.

The lack of effort on Saturday was hugely disappointing, but probably more worrying in the longer term is the fact that the current squad doesnt have that much more to offer. And I really cant see things improving until we have a coach, or someone else in the club, who can identify and recruit better players than Jeffries, Platt, Sheriffe, Nero, Sykes & co without breaking the bank.

Recruitment hasn't been great and we've got a real imbalance in the squad as well as a lack of quality.

It seems to me that unless McNamara can suddenly start to work some magic then you're right, we'll be stuck with mediocrity at best, and I don't think that's going to be sustainable for very long. Performances like the one at Wigan will see gates go through the floor.

Given the lack of finance to bring in top quality players (I'm taking it as a given that we can't really compete for the big names anymore despite the assurances from Peter Hood) it looks like we'e going to need a new coach at some stage who can get more out of limited players and develop the kids. Who this new messiah is I do not know!