[PopTart]

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:08 pm  

Scarlet Pimpernell wrote:

Watch the interview and hear what he had to say then.

Why? Does he say he'd have stayed if we'd built a team around him?

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:14 pm  

Like you said to me when I asked for your reference point look it up.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:23 pm  

Good luck Tom Johnstone!

A genuinely nice bloke to talk to and a fantastic player in the Wakefield Trinity colours.

Sad that you won’t make it for the World Cup but wish you all the best of luck for the future at Catalan!

As for the major gap left behind we’ve still got some great wingers in Murphy, Taufua and Kershaw.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:46 pm  

Scarlet Pimpernell wrote:

Welcome to the dark side after finally seeing the light (nothing like a mixed metaphor). We had a chance to actually build a successful squad but unfortunately squandered it. Why maybe mediocrity is more economical but once you start you can seldom stop the slide without far greater investment to persuade the better players to join a club in decline.

Don’t flatter yourself.

The difference is I understand why we are where we are whilst you just want to play blame games.

This current situation was bound to happen as finally we have a BOD brave enough to make strategic decisions.

We simply couldn’t carry on as we were. To stand any chance of future success the club needed to be quite literally rebuilt. Without it we were out of SL regardless of how good a team we might have.

That meant something had to give and that until the off field club was sorted we’d struggle. Well we are, it’s a shame because even with a reduced budget the team we put together should be better. The fault for this lays totally with the players and the coaches. I doubt the BOD expected much but they will have expected more than this.

Great plans sometimes fail and that may be the case here, such is life. But let’s be in no doubt, if we hadn’t spent every penny we can spare on the new ground and infrastructure we would be kicked out of SL regardless. To believe anything else is an utter fantasy.

We had to go make or break and this is it. We will either stay up and hopefully rise to greater things or go down and find our level. There was simply no other option imho despite what some seem to think.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:47 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Why? Does he say he'd have stayed if we'd built a team around him?

No he doesn’t or if he did it’s a white noise only the pimp can hear.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:08 pm  

Scarlet Pimpernell wrote:

If we had not gone down the route we did then TJ like he said in an interview after the Leeds game when asked why he stayed with us would not signing elsewhere and we would not be in the position we are.

I remember that game and interview very well. Tupou and Broughy had stand out games too. The problem to me was that a whole bunch of the team including BIll, Tom, Tini and Broughy all hit lengthy injury spells together and I don't think we ever saw many of that whole bunch back together in any reasonable shape. It was a thin squad that relied heavily on individual brilliance and off the cuff plays. Tom and Bills fragility going forward from there was a major reason we didn't progress.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:32 pm  

vastman wrote:

No he doesn’t or if he did it’s a white noise only the pimp can hear.

Just to help your memory when interviewed and Sky asked why he stayed at a club like Trinity he quite forthrightly stated that he thought he could achieve all he wanted at Wakefield with the team we had. It is unfortunate that we could not improve it from that point but if you ask your controllers they may be able to advise why they missed the opportunity.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:41 pm  

Fantastic winger. A match winner that any team would have had in a heartbeat. When fit, best English winger by far. Every time he played on Sky, it felt like Phil Clarke was making a personal plea for Wigan to sign him.

It's a real shame for him that his career has been so dogged by injury and I hope he can avoid it for the rest of his career. Every credit to him though for staying as long as he had. Although MC said that he would never want him to go, we all know that when player's heads are turned by money clubs or Grand Finalists, they go. It's never if. It's when and at what price. For Tom not to go that route says a lot about him as a person. Team player and loyal.

Hope it goes well in France.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:47 pm  

[quote="vastman"]Don’t flatter yourself.

This current situation was bound to happen as finally we have a BOD brave enough to make strategic decisions.

Great plans sometimes fail and that may be the case here, such is life. But let’s be in no doubt, if we hadn’t spent every penny we can spare on the new ground and infrastructure we would be kicked out of SL regardless. To believe anything else is an utter fantasy.

I am sure you can explain what money was spent prior to the recent floodlights on the ground and infrastructure because we had a payment holiday on the loan and thereby no rent to pay. I would suggest the lack of investment is the reason we have restricted access to the North Stand.
I am sure you can tell us what money we have spent on the ground that ensured our SL survival because my understanding it was league position that was the deciding factor, pretty much like this season. It is unfortunate that it is this part we have concentrated in making savings.

Re: Tom Johnstone : Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:54 pm  

Scarlet Pimpernell wrote:

Just to help your memory when interviewed and Sky asked why he stayed at a club like Trinity he quite forthrightly stated that he thought he could achieve all he wanted at Wakefield with the team we had. It is unfortunate that we could not improve it from that point but if you ask your controllers they may be able to advise why they missed the opportunity.

If you followed the team anywhere near as closely as you profess you would already know all the answers.