At the start of the first SL season the Bulls had a Mission Statement pinned up in the ticket office. One of our goals was "To achieve an average attendance of 8,000". I feel confident that 14 years on we are about to achieve that goal, provided Leeds, Wigan and a few other clubs bring a decent away following.


It may be expensive to sack a coach but it could be more expensive not to.

Bring on next season.

There's plenty of supposition about whether the club could or couldn't afford to pay off McNamara and get a new guy in. We all know the club aren't rolling in cash but we do know they have some money available for players. I would rather spend that money on a player too but there's no way of knowing whether they would make all that much difference whereas a new coach would bring fundamental changes (hopefully for the better). The present squad have underachieved for some time under the current coach so I would argue that unless there's a radical upturn in performances (and I mean radical) then the we'll have to spend on a new coach at some point, why delay for the sake of a few quid when there is damage done through inaction.

Now I know the club aren't likely to make any changes unless they really have to but I would argue that sometimes no action can be as bad or worse than taking the wrong action. I wonder if muddling through until we're in the bottom 4 by mid season is such a good idea. Or will we stick it out until the end of the season where we might scrape into the 8 by some miracle. I just wonder how much goodwill and patience from supporters the club expects? I know it's early days this season but the trouble is that many of the faults on the field are long standing and are the same as were seen in 2006, 07, 08 and 09, and on a steadily increasing rate over that period.

I've stuck by the coach for most of his time in charge but now, after such a disappointing start to this, his fourth full season in charge I think it's time for a change. I can say this regardless of the time in the season as I'm pretty confident that we won't achieve the target set by the board of top 4 and a final appearance and we'll struggle to make the top 8.

Sorry if this sounds incredibly downbeat but there you have it. I see no reason for optimism at all at the moment, and no, Eddie hasn't hacked my account.

The club used up a hell of a lot of that last season!

I was shocked Macca was still in a job for the 2010 season. Fans had geniune excitement about our new season it seemed. All that was pretty much crushed inside 40 mins. The atmosphere at Odsal on sunday was quite nasty i thought ( though i was stood in a new place i didn't enjoy). And the post match comments etc, seem a carbon copy of what we heard last year. Already hearing the "give it ten games" comments. Well we did that last year and it proved fruitless.

Gutted that i'm already starting to write off this season if Macca is still in charge, no matter how stupid that sounds.

TBH living in Manchester now has made me pick my home games. Last year i only went to 5 ( 1 draw and 4 losses ), however i did do all the away trips bar catalans and celtic.

COYB!

I agree with Bullsye probably the most fair and positive poster on this board. If I had not bought a season ticket I would not be turning up again until a change of coach happens.

If you were McNamara and we lost by a huge score with no effort again on friday, would you walk?

I think i'd be close to it.

Who'd seriously walk away from a well paid job in this economic enviroment. No one can blame him for staying in the job no matter how Bradford are doing.

If you know you are totally incable of doing the job. Plus, if Bradford is really the be all and end all for him, he shouldn't want to be the one who sends us down the $hitpan

Probably not. However, should this be the case I would hope that the people within the ground would make their feeling known to him and that would maybe force his hand.

However, I am led to believe that catcalls for the coach is not the Rugby League way so probably that will not happen. More silence - that will do the trick.

Though I think he genuenly cares about The Bulls, like the rest of us the be all and end all for us is to pay the mortgage and look after his wife and kids. Even if he wanted to walk away I imagine he will not have the financial security to do so.

Steve Snitch earns enough to help out

True.

But, maybe if he does realise its too much for him or just isn't going to work out, and he does love the club as much as I belive he does, could he not negotiate with the board to step down to assistant level and/or a junior development role whilst a new head coach is brought in?

A bitter pill to swallow for sure but maybe a move which might provide employment and security for himself at the Bulls for another 5 years, whereas he runs the risk at the moment of being out of a job and with a tarnished rep within 9 months at the most. Probably unrealistic to be fair, not sure the new guy would appreciate the old guy being an assitant... just a thought.

I suspect the truth is that he wont step down as he has a genuine belief that he can turn it around and be a success as head coach, so in his mind why would he give that up? Either way there will be no quick change in coach.

I would have alot more respect for him.

Excellent, you're playing

I've still got the boots somewhere!

I'd be confident the amount of pressure we had on their line that I could produce a pass / play that would create a score.

[size=50I'd come of when we didn't has possession though!![/size

Fwiw, Saints seem to be pretty much replicating last week's demolition job in France.

Does that make our complete capitulation okay then?

Yeah, but the Dragons were down to 12 men for most of the match so it would have been a pretty naff showing from us if we hadn't beaten them properly. And we managed to let them have a try at the death even so.

Did we completely capitulate?

I saw a load of - at times - headless chickens playing as error-prone individuals, and with heads down. And I saw a clinical destruction by a team who IMO played far better than it is politically-correct to give them credit for.

But I saw no lack of effort and no capitulation. Is that really what you saw?

Have you so soon forsaken all hope?

Not sure I totally agree here Adey. I think there probably was a lack of effort in some areas against Saints. For instance I thought we were very lazy chasing kicks against St Helens. That isn't down to lack of understanding we just didn't work hard enough in some key areas. We certainly upped our workrate against Cas and gained valuable metres by refusing to surrender on contact with the defenders. We had 6 or 7 men chasing kicks which meant Cas found it tough getting any sort of momentum. We worked harder controlling the ruck and got numbers into the tackle although I still feel we could improve our technique here.

There were certainly times when some players seemed to lose heart for sure...I guess my point was that it was by no means universal. I'd not disagree at all with "lack of effort in some areas" - not getting the markers set and allowing them so many cheap yards from the PTB was the one that again wound me up the most - but that is far from a "complete capitulation", is it not?

It just worries me that some of the usually more realistic and level-headed contributors on here appear to be losing hope when surely it is too early for that?

Indeed, I think we got the performance on Friday that we were all hoping for on Sun. It wasn't a perfect or completely polished but you could sense a real desire and togetherness of the players. They worked for each other and came out fired up. I suppose next week will be a fair test, can we match those intensity levels against a supposed wooden spoon contender.

I found it a little worrying that so many supporters apparently lost faith in the team after only two games into the season. I suppose the players have hardly kept their side of the bargain though in recent times. Some of our worse performances have been saved for Odsal! I think we genuinely have enough quality in the side to see some good quality RL at Odsal this year, I just hope people will come back and give the lads a chance.
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When players look like they can't be d to tackle, or chase then it looks like a capitulation to me. I have not forsaken all hope, of course not. I will be there week in, week out. But as I said on another thread, until we have competed with and beaten a "top" side, I am not getting carried away.

It all provides context. Today both Hull teams have been humbled. Justin Morgan is widely regarded as a talented coach but his side copped it pretty much exactly the same as we did last week. Doesn't make it right but it does make it less outlandish.