I respect what Rob and Neil have done, and even they admit when they've made mistakes. But unfortunately they are currently making one right now. They are very loyal to any staff or players they employ, but this blindness loyalty is fast becoming their undoing. After all this hasn't been just this season, but way back to the challenge cup final in August last year up to the present date.
The Wakefield game has come at the wrong time for the club and the section of fans unhappy with this coaching regime. This game most probably could be the stay of execution for Chester. A shame really as we all know that this sorry affair could drag on for longer than is necessary.
Blind faith will not bring results. But a change of coach could well do.

If Chester is sacked who do you think you would realistically go for? The new coach will have the same problems with a weak and injury hit squad.

I'd have Morgan back in a heartbeat. He knows the club fans and regime. Others have mentioned McNamara, we could do worse.
As for inheriting the same problems, you have a point. But I've heard there's more than just injuries that are causing some bad displays.

I would hope jp has someone in mind already, if him and the board are not thinking about it already then we are in trouble imo

A change of coach (if it is the right person) can work wonders with a good but underperforming team or an average team or a poor team over time. Conversely, a poor coach can have the reverse effect.

Examples - Powell at Cas, Smith at Warrington, Gillespie at Yorkshire, Hiddink at Chelsea.

Chezzie has had time enough, has had a reasonably free rein on recruitment, has openly stated "Willie Poching was one of his shrewdest acquisitions" and coached the second worst defensive team in SL last season. Says it all, really. Our current plight with injuries and squad depth, whilst unlucky, smacks of incompetence on a massive scale. It's not as if we didn't have a dry run in this regard last year.

If we fail to beat St Helens at home in 10 days time, given how Salford eviscerated them last week after a heavy opening weekend loss, Chezzie ought to be lynched.

Get Morgan back, make a move for Steve Mcnamara or Paul Rowley. Or an Aussie assistant coach at one of their recent NRL success franchises (therefore excludes Canberra, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Parramatta, Penrith and Wests), who has represented his country at test level.

I think Morgan would be a good appointment. Since he left Rovers he must have gained more experience and new ideas in the NRL.

If there is a change I think McNamara is more likely.

Some people are saying that we should give CC more time due to injuries and the like, we conceded nearly 30 points per game for all of last season. Some are saying that our pack is small, I accept that the second row are a bit light (Coxie wanted to play second row) but our front row are big lads, they're just not performing.
The truth is that the board have never provided this club with an experienced coach, Morgan, Sandercock and Chester have all been novices. Do the board fear an experienced coach?

John Kear has always had an impact wherever he has gone or Geof Toovey sacked from Manly last year could be options. One thing is for sure, Chester is not up to the job.

People are being too harsh on chester IMO. Does anyone have any evidence that he's the one who has chosen the players and squad make up? Did he hand out big contracts to kelly and campese? Was he the one who green lighted tilse last season?

Didn't rob crossland come out and say the other day you've purposely chosen younger, lighter forwards as you're making plans for reduced interchanges - wasn't that when he criticised the Hull pack for being too big? Seems to be a club policy to me and not down solely to chester. How much input have hudge, crossland, smith and peacock had in recruitment and retention?

Last season he got you to wembley and you were only 2 points off the top 8 despite a bad injury run including losing your best player for most of the season. You also went undefeated through the middle 8's.

What do people realistically expect? You're one of the smaller clubs in SL (in income/attendance terms) and have very few quality young players who have come through your academy meaning you've had to backfill from elsewhere. You're probably punching at your weight in real terms around 7th to 11th and there's only really cas who have bucked the trend to some extent although they're still spending at the cap.

As for your overseas signings, campese, sio and kelly are top quality players even if 2 are injury prone - you sometimes have to take a chance on these players which can blow up in your face but it's hardly chester's fault.

These things often seem worse when the team across the city are doing better. I'd say if it hadn't been for the derby friendly bumming and the fact we've started like a house on fire then most rovers fans would have been happy with a point from your first 2 games. I've no doubt you'll beat a woeful wakefield side on sunday and think you have a decent shout against saints as long as you don;t pick up any more injuries.

Can your club even afford to sack chester and can they afford the salary for these coaches on everyone's shopping list?

Your back row is definitely a major problem with your forwards. Your props would be a lot better if they had decent back rowers taking the pressure off. The luxury radford has at the minute of bringing pritchard on after 25 minutes or so is massive and our back row has been the major part of our 2 wins so far IMO

I don't mean to be rude but I am not focusing on any other team at the moment. Our back row could have been strengthened in the close season but w Chesters at fault.asn't, Chester has to take some responsibility for that. Regardless of our size our defensive line is too slow and timid, it was for the whole of last season and this problem has not been addressed.

Paul Rowley a good shout...

You need to pull in some loan players, if only the relationship with Hull FC was a little better there is a embarrassment of riches in the forwards that could do a job for KR. Selling Taylor to Wigan may become a costly mistake

Pure crap and some of it a bit patronising, especially the smaller club analogy.

Hull KR is a team. RL is a team game. As a team, Hull KR is misfiring and underperforming in its current iteration and somebody has to carry the can.

Rewind 12 months.

Last season, we beat you in preseason and we beat you at yours. We never won away from home again in SL. We beat some other top 4 sides at home. We won 3 on the bounce over Easter and then it all dissolved to rats**t. At the same time the suicidal lemmings on the dark side of the chocolate divide were screaming for Radford's head. Then fortunes went in reverse. A team that could defend, suddenly found some cohesion in attack. A team that couldn't defend but could attack, lost its playmaker and on field game manager. The rest is history. We were consistently inconsistent in line with previous seasons.

So we got to Wembley but got hammered by a record score. We missed out on our target of the top 8. You beat us at Newcastle and at ours.

Fast forward to 2016. You fix up your 2015 weaknesses in the off-season by recruiting players who can compliment the talent you already had and take your performances up another level.

We fix our 2015 weaknesses and legacy by - failing to sign a half to play alongside Kelly and to provide cover for Campo and Kelly; failing to address our pack weakness and size especially in the back row; failing to sign a specialist fullback; failing to practice core defensive structures in preseason according to stand-in captain Graeme Horne; failing to increase the size of our squad and by the look of it, failing to practice offence.

There is a talent pool out there and we understand from our directors that it was our coach's responsibility solely last year to tap into it. This year he has had input in that regard from JP.

So as we see it, it is Chezzies team for better or for worse, hands tied behind his back or not. As fans, we expect an improvement and yes the more sanguine and realistic members of our fan base, myself included, would not act to get rid of him at this exact moment in time. That said, we do wonder if this current team has the capability to react. Despite the point against Cas, the team is performing at the level of skill and intensity of the middle 8s and worse than at this time last year. Things have to change to avoid a repeat of last year. Personally, I don't see it happening without a major shakeup, starting with the coaching set up.

Great post


This fc fans patronizing that seems to be happening is doing my head in as well they forgot how they have been doing the last 4-5 seasons and just so happens they have started this season well and now they are the biggest team in the world again

The point you make about chesters hands being tied regarding signings the club shipped out something like 18 players and let him have free will on who he signed and he signed some very good players but for 1 reason or another those sane players don't believe in him anymore and surely the board can see that,

Not that size is the only measurement that's important, I don't agree with this bit. I don't know income, but attendances are in the public domain. I reckon us to be 7th on average home attendances. That's where I expect us to be in the league year on year.

Which Hull FC fans have said that?

If he did it's his fault if he didn't he's a puppet.

You're welcome. I love patronising those less fortunate than myself

We're really not the biggest team in the world and most Hull fans I know fully expect us to implode some time soon.

Very, very true...

What is most disappointing about the current state of affairs is that nobody at the clubs seems to be taking ANY responsibilty or has any accountability for the obvious failures and the buck is been passed around freely.

The ultimate leaders and decision makers are the chairman and vice. Now they may say they employ people like a CEO, Football Manager , coach, defence coach and a highly paid captain to take care of the playing/rugby side of things, but if this is so at least one, probably more, of those people is getting some important decisions wrong.

It would be fascinating to know the decision process that resulted in the farcical situation we are now in where we have no direct line of junior players to call on, however good or promising, and decided to cut virtually all local ties to the first team squad. I assume the 5 year plan must include the possiblity that Hull FC become a reasonable side again and we languish perenially in the bottom 4 or worse , leaving the best talent from the City of Hull academy a pretty straightforward choice when they graduate.

I assume the plan also includes leaving overseas recruitment to our captain to get his mates on equally overpaid contracts but still ensures the CEO gets his annual holiday to Australia , which produced those top signings this year...

The plan seems to further involve a similar situation on the domestic front but with the football manger in charge.

The plan must obviously include small print in the playing contracts that value for money is not expected nor does the value or length of your contract relate to your actual ability or indeed willingness or availability to play. In fact these may quite often be inversely proportional.

The plan also seem to include paying big bucks for a defensive coach who only turns up on Friday afternoons.

As indicated in prior posts the situation is made more galling in view of the fact that FC have turned their own situation around dramatically it seems, and in no small part due to a Mr Motu Tony, whose recruitment skills are obviously par excellence.

Well, Rovers plan did in fact entail turning down Mr Tony for a role at the club prior to his employment across the way, as obviously our guys are doing such a good job...

I do feel a little for Chester because he does not have much to work with but he is the author of his own misfortune if he has failed to impose himself.

I think some brutal self appraisal and honesty needs to be applied from top to bottom and not just by the first team squad, who after all, didn't award themselves their lucrative or not so lucrative contracts.

I fear some may be fiddling whilst Rome burns.

very good post, this should be put up in your boardroom and changing room, you may have to do what Radford and Pearson have done over the last few years and pay off over inflated earners and go back to basics.

Great post and a nice line in irony too. In the words of a yank watching the University Boat Race for the first time - "oarsome"

Please can I place an order with you for more of the same in future, ta.

Yep all you posted appears to be happening from an out sider looking in.

You didn't mention the amateurish preparation and coaching. A coach who appears to acquiesce to everyone soon loses credibility and this seems to have happened.

Why another layer of management in Peacock. If he really was in charge how did Poaching keep his job? How and why did we get involved with Sauilima? Campo must have been involved. Advocating a player we don't have space for or need in that position. Surely Peacock just goes......no.

Far far too many chiefs at Rovers.

Things need addressing quickly but I fear it has a feel of nepotism and no one making hard decisions. If they don't make some soon I really fear the hole will be too big to get out of and its years in the lower leagues again.

Didn't realise what a mess the acadamy merger is. Sandercock changed our academy and our juniors results were much better with international call ups for the first time.3 years later....Surely it should have been given more time.

Decisions need making....Poaching is on borrowed time. He either doesn't know what to do, can't communicate it or both or is just stealing a living. The evidence that Chester is struggling is clear. It ain't gonna get better. 'We're over our adversity' as quoted from our coach after the Cas game was harrowing for me. 1 draw and everything is ok. Please.

Some players need to step up but are they willing to. Albert looks thoroughly miserable. I certainly am and don't see a way out without drastic changes.

Peter Mannion....Keep an eye out for Malcolm.

Chester In/Out
In all truth I don't have a lot of faith we would appoint anyone far better tbh. The endeavours of the JM replacement yielded Craig Sandercock. Who in truth was tasked with an impossible job/remit - all against the backdrop of a lot of uncertainty with investment (be it continued or new), but ultimately failed. The subsequent appointment/rise from within of Chris Chester seemed more about ease to me and not wishing to repeat the CS endeavour. Pretty sure very little changed on the pitch to suggest Chester was the clear candidate in the initial interim period. To date he's overseen some pretty awful performances ... vs Hull 0-28 (2014), 20-46 (2015) / vs Wigan 0-60 / vs Wakefield 24-44 / vs Leeds 0-50. The particular high(s) of reaching Wembley are not be forgotten, along with the some proper grit performances @ home vs Wigan/Saints/Hudds last year.

For me it comes down to what our current 5 year plan really is …

If it’s to continue meandering along content with 8-12th – then we may as well keep him.
When he moves on, we’ll have another ‘rebirth’- ‘new beginning’ ‘new philosophy’ moment - but I doubt little actual change and we’ll continue whereabouts we are currently.

If the club’s intention is really to push into the 5-8th bracket and/or even higher, then I don’t believe Chris Chester is the right guy to achieve this. If the club really think he is, then I have little faith in their 5 year plan tbh. Our defence has been pants for sometime. It spans many seasons, a few coaches and many players. Chris Chester has been the common denominator throughout.

Everybody has an opinion of picking the best team taking into account who is available. The point this is Chester's team and he is happy with the squad and after every defeat we hear, "we gave away to many penalties and due to the extra defence we put it we tired". Rover spend roughly what Castleford spend on the salary cap, the difference is the bloke who picks the team and coaches them. We have Chester and Poaching. If he is happy then he can ply his trade in the championship.

Is Chester the man to take you forward? I highly doubt it. But regardless your squad just isn't close to being good enough, and I'm not sure what you guys expect. What you did last year is realistically all you can hope for this.

If and when Chester goes I fully expect Peacock to take over.