"Barmy" as in 'raving mad' can also be spelt "balmy" - mainly by Americans, though, so it doesn't count.

And the weather

Bloody annoying, isn't it, like when people put "here, here" when they mean "hear, hear".

Let's hear it for Messrs. Gentle and McRae, and Lord Faulkner, anyhow.

no, it can't, not in any dictionary.

they are two totally different words.

Good interview with him in HDM, I particularly like his thoughts towards utility players & trying to find the a permanent position within the squad. Also sounds like he wont be afraid to throw the young kids in -"I'm not against giving blokes a try too. Age is no barrier to me and if there are young blokes at Hull who are playing well, then we'll give them a chance."

should be an interesting 18 months ahead thats for sure

Or 3 years, given that's the length of his contract.

wasnt talking about his contract length but particularly the next 18 months !! changes and all that
clear now!!

I agree.

I liked his comments about utility players, that has already separated him from coaches like Peter Sharp who loved 'multi-positional' players. Position specifics has been dying a death in recent years and its heartening to hear a coach who believes in it.

Thought he was coming over with the Aussies for the Four Nations,
as Sheen's assistant.

In the Mail, he's given it up to fully, to concentrate on the job ahead,as he indicated it was too much of a distraction
to help Sheens.

Good sign, is that he'll be here to take charge at end of next month.

Hope we see the likes of Crooks,Lyne etc improve.

I like that he is doing that, shows he is committed to doing a job for us. He has a lot of work to do but cannot wait for 2012 to see how the team is shaping up. Not expecting miracles of course but hoping to see some big changes.

Says he is here for 3 years and has no intentions of going back before thats up! The bit about him thinking we have too many utility players and (although he doesn't come out with it as such) us not promoting enough youngsters, was very good I thought! excellant piece by Smailesey and better that the dross Cookie is coming out with this week!

i like the guys style, hes come with a plan, top 4 then top 2, and fully expects to back it up.
IMO thats what all coaches should be after, or whats the point of turning up.

It must be great news to Washy and Whiting.

He never said he'd get rid, he said that he would work out which was there best positions & try to play them there instead of them just being 'utility' players.

Will be the first time in four years.

I know, these two have the biggest utility tags in the squad.

So hopefully they'll get a run in the backrow without having to be moved around.

Who will he bring in as his No2 ? Any news on that?

do you know what the most exciting thing is, he'll not just have a plan, but he'll have a back up plan, and a series of options around each.

I can see it now next season, FC v Wakey at the KC, 10 minutes into the second half and Fubar has used his 10 interchanges, has forgotten it's not 12 anymore, Mr Gentle still has 4 interchanges left!

Forgot about that, aren't we still in need of a conditioner aswell?

Really? Try [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balmythis one[/url. Or [url=http://www.webster-dictionary.net/definition/Balmythis[/url. Or there's lots of alternative words for crazily balmy in [url=http://education.yahoo.com/reference/thesaurus/entry/balmy_2this[/url thesaurus.

But, as I said, I bet these are American sites as balmy is the US abomination of the "English barmy" and, as such, has little credence from me.

Andy Last?

I for one hope that there is a place for Lasty in the new set up. The kid has been at the club for years now and has done a great job with the under 20's. Given the chance to work under the guidence of an experienced coaching staff, I believe Lasty would develop into a fine coach.

Yeah, I hope that Andy Last stays because you only hear good things about him. Seems a valuable person to have around.

There have been a lot of good reports about Andy Last but if the new coach wants a clean sweep then so be it.