Culture is about your environment. It’s about standards and attitude. A sense of pride and professionalism. It’s about the way the club conducts itself on and off the pitch.
I say the word club here because it’s not just about the players or the coaches, it’s about everything and everyone involved. That is why the clubs like Saints and Wigan constantly compete. Sure, they often have the best coaches and players but the clubs themselves create a positive setup from top to bottom that creates a mission statement of sorts: this is who we are and this is what we are about. It’s something that everyone is expected to buy into. And those that don’t, those that fail to live up to those standards, get moved on.
At times we seemingly create such an environment but it only ever seems to be a fragile thing with us. Doesn’t take much to take it away. Case in point:
To be honest I’m just glad the season is finished and over. It’s been an unbelievably challenging time since the Wakefield game when you know you have nothing to play for. At that point you’re a double glazing salesman trying to sell poor windows to your team really, knowing that there is nothing to play for. Bring on 2019.
This was Radders at the end of the 2018 season. We all recall the difficulties he had that year with injuries but this is quite telling really of what the attitude and culture was at the club back then and perhaps indicative of what it still is now: that as soon as there’s no chance of competing for a trophy, they’re done.
It’s a bit… defeatist to me. It’s also something I don’t believe would be allowed to happen for too long at the top clubs, at the ambitious clubs. They would demand pride in the shirt, demand effort week in and week out regardless of what is or isn’t at stake. It’s what allows them to regroup season after season and compete again.
And as I say, it runs throughout these clubs. I’ve listened to that House of League podcast tonight and by God it sounds like a depressing state of affairs at the club. Going after players no one else was interested in, the state of the training facilities etc. We are where we are now because of the club and decisions made as a whole and that’s not likely to change any time soon. So given the state we are in, would anyone actually be able to do a better job that Tony Smith at this point? Could the club attract anyone better at this time? I have my doubts. Unless there's changes all over, a new coach is just likely to fail once again.
