Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:47 am  

UllFC wrote:

I agree he is trying but our discipline has also added to the pressure. We've had Gale picking up an injured player, Connor and Wynne can't shut up, Sao throwing a punch live on SKY, it's been obvious since the very first Saints-Catalan game that the officials are clamping down on everything (too much in my opinion) yet we are still doing the same daft things

Can’t disagree with anything you’ve said there. They are quite clear.

But I’ve said before and I’ll say it again. We seem to get penalised for everything when other teams get away with it?

Take the first penalty last night for a high tackle by Houghton. Was that really high? Looked like first contact was with the ball. Think they scored on the back of that penalty?
Sure they did a high tackle in the second half that went unpunished?

And we always get penalised for offside when a team is on our line. Couple of times last night when we were on their line you could see Wakefield players weren’t back to the line but he never penalised them.

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:47 am  

Kristian Woolf has visibly improved Saints. Some of the tactics may be questionable but everyone is clearly working to a system and a plan including young players drafted in to the first team. People thought Hurrell was finished but he’s integrated him in to that team without a problem.
Over the same sort of period I am not sure anyone at our club knows what the plan is and young players etc coming in to the first team look lost. Surely it is the coaches job to sort out the on field discipline problems and technique. No evidence of that taking place.
It actually occurred to me that Agar had more impact on players than Hodgson. His tactics were boring and unimaginative but that is how it came out on the pitch.
Gale has been a complete waste of money. I would much rather have Sneyds reliability which he is continuing to deliver at Salford.
Our season has been a mirror image of Leeds’. Wish Rohan Smith had come here.
People talk about a clique of players running the team. I recall things like that being said and Radford being the ringleader so I’m sceptical about that being the problem all that time.
I have been a pass holder most of the last 50 years. The exception was a period during the mid90’s when I thought the fans were displaying more passion than the players. I’m approaching the same opinion now. At least there was more effort on display last night as opposed to the thoroughly unprofessional performances against Cas, Leeds and Saints.
Just a few observations I needed to get off more chest. Hodgson seems like a nice bloke but I doubt that that is in the job description for a successful coach and I hope he goes asap.

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 11:00 am  

Whatever coach we have will struggle with. Walker. Swift. Tuime. Griffin. Macintosh. Scott. Connor. Evans. Lovuduo. Savellio. Gator. Mau.. Out. Even at our best or near best with a full squad we are only 5/6 /7 . Yes crippling injury crisis doesn't fully excuse our collapses. But it is a Fact

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 11:28 am  

UllFC wrote:

I agree he is trying but our discipline has also added to the pressure. We've had Gale picking up an injured player, Connor and Wynne can't shut up, Sao throwing a punch live on SKY, it's been obvious since the very first Saints-Catalan game that the officials are clamping down on everything (too much in my opinion) yet we are still doing the same daft things

The players don't help themselves, no argument there.

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:54 pm  

To see our coach just about in tears last night at the end did, despite everything I've said make me feel for him.

This whole debacle of a season is such a sad situation for me. It’s interesting to read the views of the fans on here because so many of you really care about the club that we obviously all love. Yet once again we witnessed a depressing defeat at the end of another final third of the season stuffed with them! We are just going nowhere in more ways than one. I know I’m seen as a bit of a doom and gloom merchants but I defend my right to have my say, (all be it again at length) and watching the game back again this morning I feel worse than I did watching it in real time. It was as a game a performance and a spectacle, depressing. On a game by game basis, the whole thing is pretty disheartening which is bad enough in itself, but in the bigger picture, just as is happening in the country, our club seems to be spiralling backwards in a situation akin to a perfect storm. In 64 years of watching my family Club and being a season ticket holder, I can honestly say that when you step back from the day to day week by week drama’s on the field, we are likely in as big a hole as we have ever been in as a club.


I know a lot won’t agree but back in the mid 70’s when less than 1000 attended games, in the mid-nineties when we were in danger of going bankrupt and even in the David Lloyd years there was always the chance that someone would ride in on a white horse with a barrow load of money and messiah like bring back our former glories. Indeed on occasions they did. Now though with the standing of the club in the league, our lack of a ground that we own, the declining status of the game in the field of British Sport and most importantly the state of the British economy that is about to impact us all, that ain’t going to happen. If you speak to anyone at the club they will tell you that we are past the point of money being tight and so any of the dreams of paying off players and coaches and re-engaging new top liners to replace them is pie in the Sky. We’ll be lucky to just keep going.

For me that perfect storm scenario sees on the field yet another season of mounting injuries, long runs of defeats and pastings at the end of the campaign, the like of which have almost become the norm year in year out. The attitude that exudes from the players on the field is there for all to see and the fans are undoubtably alienated by that apparent lack of pride and focus. All they really want to see is 13 blokes in that famous shirt, that for just 80 minutes a week run themselves into the ground and that are passionate and who want it as much as we do out there on the terraces. It doesn’t matter if they are all academy players.

Then there is that much talked about rationale running through the club (DNA) particularly in the senior playing group that looks to all of us as if some just couldn’t care less. Whatever the excuses we simply ain’t getting that commitment from them that we give as supporters to the team. I don’t care how many injuries we have you should be able to expect professional players, in 80 minutes, to be able to pass, tackle, keep their mouths shut and keep penalties to a minimum. You’d be able to get school kids to do that.

What’s more, how can we improve when our shortage of cash is obviously affecting recruitment and watching the game back today the body language of some of the players, the almost heartbroken state of the coach at the end and the frustration on the face of our owner, it all speaks volumes as to just how far we have sunk. Yet apparently we have a plan.

Off the field recruitment since Motu left has been sketchy at best and decidedly poor over the past two years. I can’t ever remember so many people particularly in my age group who have stopped going and/or who are no renewing their passes next season. Its there for all to see, for I wouldn’t want the person who calculated a gate of 9000 last night working out my gas bill!! Unlike other years that resistance to attending and renewing is no longer an idle threat, for I can tell by their oblivious attitude that they have simply had enough. That inertia will impact on game day income massively as well as on merchandising sales, corporate hospitality and other essential income streams. Central funding via Sky is diminishing, we have few if any means of raising income outside rugby and so it’s hard to see how Adam can keep things afloat for much longer. We are well supported by sponsors, but how long in the current situation will that go on for.

Look across the river at the Dobbins. They are struggling as much as we are on the field but there is light, they have bought their ground, got a new Aussie Coach coming in and made some signings that will I believe inspire their subscribers to buy into the club again next year. they have at least bought themselves some time. In addition, they keep their fans well informed ( since our new CE was appointed we seem to be by and large kept in the dark, can you remember the last fans forum?) and they also engender a family approach to the sport. All of which is Hard to accept and even harder for me to say, but true I think just the same.

In the end I guess all I’m saying is we should be careful what we wish for as fans, we can’t afford to get rid of the Coach or the senior player ‘mafia’, unless the former resigns with a broken heart, nor can we afford Marquee signings, in fact it’s hard to see with this perfect storm scenario, just how we will rise again. Our youth is our biggest asset but we saw last night what happens when too many of them are thrown to the lions. Still as long as they give 100% for us lot we can ask for no more. One things for sure selling season tickets to even the most faithful of fans is going to be an uphill struggle in 2023, because so many people seem to have just had enough of disappointment, frustration and of course, jam tomorrow. But it is the bigger picture closing in on us, that is our biggest threat as a club.

Here endeth the Epistle

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 1:14 pm  

The Dentist Wilf wrote:

To see our coach just about in tears last night at the end did, despite everything I've said make me feel for him.

This whole debacle of a season is such a sad situation for me. It’s interesting to read the views of the fans on here because so many of you really care about the club that we obviously all love. Yet once again we witnessed a depressing defeat at the end of another final third of the season stuffed with them! We are just going nowhere in more ways than one. I know I’m seen as a bit of a doom and gloom merchants but I defend my right to have my say, (all be it again at length) and watching the game back again this morning I feel worse than I did watching it in real time. It was as a game a performance and a spectacle, depressing. On a game by game basis, the whole thing is pretty disheartening which is bad enough in itself, but in the bigger picture, just as is happening in the country, our club seems to be spiralling backwards in a situation akin to a perfect storm. In 64 years of watching my family Club and being a season ticket holder, I can honestly say that when you step back from the day to day week by week drama’s on the field, we are likely in as big a hole as we have ever been in as a club.


I know a lot won’t agree but back in the mid 70’s when less than 1000 attended games, in the mid-nineties when we were in danger of going bankrupt and even in the David Lloyd years there was always the chance that someone would ride in on a white horse with a barrow load of money and messiah like bring back our former glories. Indeed on occasions they did. Now though with the standing of the club in the league, our lack of a ground that we own, the declining status of the game in the field of British Sport and most importantly the state of the British economy that is about to impact us all, that ain’t going to happen. If you speak to anyone at the club they will tell you that we are past the point of money being tight and so any of the dreams of paying off players and coaches and re-engaging new top liners to replace them is pie in the Sky. We’ll be lucky to just keep going.

For me that perfect storm scenario sees on the field yet another season of mounting injuries, long runs of defeats and pastings at the end of the campaign, the like of which have almost become the norm year in year out. The attitude that exudes from the players on the field is there for all to see and the fans are undoubtably alienated by that apparent lack of pride and focus. All they really want to see is 13 blokes in that famous shirt, that for just 80 minutes a week run themselves into the ground and that are passionate and who want it as much as we do out there on the terraces. It doesn’t matter if they are all academy players.

Then there is that much talked about rationale running through the club (DNA) particularly in the senior playing group that looks to all of us as if some just couldn’t care less. Whatever the excuses we simply ain’t getting that commitment from them that we give as supporters to the team. I don’t care how many injuries we have you should be able to expect professional players, in 80 minutes, to be able to pass, tackle, keep their mouths shut and keep penalties to a minimum. You’d be able to get school kids to do that.

What’s more, how can we improve when our shortage of cash is obviously affecting recruitment and watching the game back today the body language of some of the players, the almost heartbroken state of the coach at the end and the frustration on the face of our owner, it all speaks volumes as to just how far we have sunk. Yet apparently we have a plan.

Off the field recruitment since Motu left has been sketchy at best and decidedly poor over the past two years. I can’t ever remember so many people particularly in my age group who have stopped going and/or who are no renewing their passes next season. Its there for all to see, for I wouldn’t want the person who calculated a gate of 9000 last night working out my gas bill!! Unlike other years that resistance to attending and renewing is no longer an idle threat, for I can tell by their oblivious attitude that they have simply had enough. That inertia will impact on game day income massively as well as on merchandising sales, corporate hospitality and other essential income streams. Central funding via Sky is diminishing, we have few if any means of raising income outside rugby and so it’s hard to see how Adam can keep things afloat for much longer. We are well supported by sponsors, but how long in the current situation will that go on for.

Look across the river at the Dobbins. They are struggling as much as we are on the field but there is light, they have bought their ground, got a new Aussie Coach coming in and made some signings that will I believe inspire their subscribers to buy into the club again next year. they have at least bought themselves some time. In addition, they keep their fans well informed ( since our new CE was appointed we seem to be by and large kept in the dark, can you remember the last fans forum?) and they also engender a family approach to the sport. All of which is Hard to accept and even harder for me to say, but true I think just the same.

In the end I guess all I’m saying is we should be careful what we wish for as fans, we can’t afford to get rid of the Coach or the senior player ‘mafia’, unless the former resigns with a broken heart, nor can we afford Marquee signings, in fact it’s hard to see with this perfect storm scenario, just how we will rise again. Our youth is our biggest asset but we saw last night what happens when too many of them are thrown to the lions. Still as long as they give 100% for us lot we can ask for no more. One things for sure selling season tickets to even the most faithful of fans is going to be an uphill struggle in 2023, because so many people seem to have just had enough of disappointment, frustration and of course, jam tomorrow. But it is the bigger picture closing in on us, that is our biggest threat as a club.

Here endeth the Epistle

Excellent post wilf

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 2:49 pm  

The Dentist Wilf wrote:

To see our coach just about in tears last night at the end did, despite everything I've said make me feel for him.

This whole debacle of a season is such a sad situation for me. It’s interesting to read the views of the fans on here because so many of you really care about the club that we obviously all love. Yet once again we witnessed a depressing defeat at the end of another final third of the season stuffed with them! We are just going nowhere in more ways than one. I know I’m seen as a bit of a doom and gloom merchants but I defend my right to have my say, (all be it again at length) and watching the game back again this morning I feel worse than I did watching it in real time. It was as a game a performance and a spectacle, depressing. On a game by game basis, the whole thing is pretty disheartening which is bad enough in itself, but in the bigger picture, just as is happening in the country, our club seems to be spiralling backwards in a situation akin to a perfect storm. In 64 years of watching my family Club and being a season ticket holder, I can honestly say that when you step back from the day to day week by week drama’s on the field, we are likely in as big a hole as we have ever been in as a club.


I know a lot won’t agree but back in the mid 70’s when less than 1000 attended games, in the mid-nineties when we were in danger of going bankrupt and even in the David Lloyd years there was always the chance that someone would ride in on a white horse with a barrow load of money and messiah like bring back our former glories. Indeed on occasions they did. Now though with the standing of the club in the league, our lack of a ground that we own, the declining status of the game in the field of British Sport and most importantly the state of the British economy that is about to impact us all, that ain’t going to happen. If you speak to anyone at the club they will tell you that we are past the point of money being tight and so any of the dreams of paying off players and coaches and re-engaging new top liners to replace them is pie in the Sky. We’ll be lucky to just keep going.

For me that perfect storm scenario sees on the field yet another season of mounting injuries, long runs of defeats and pastings at the end of the campaign, the like of which have almost become the norm year in year out. The attitude that exudes from the players on the field is there for all to see and the fans are undoubtably alienated by that apparent lack of pride and focus. All they really want to see is 13 blokes in that famous shirt, that for just 80 minutes a week run themselves into the ground and that are passionate and who want it as much as we do out there on the terraces. It doesn’t matter if they are all academy players.

Then there is that much talked about rationale running through the club (DNA) particularly in the senior playing group that looks to all of us as if some just couldn’t care less. Whatever the excuses we simply ain’t getting that commitment from them that we give as supporters to the team. I don’t care how many injuries we have you should be able to expect professional players, in 80 minutes, to be able to pass, tackle, keep their mouths shut and keep penalties to a minimum. You’d be able to get school kids to do that.

What’s more, how can we improve when our shortage of cash is obviously affecting recruitment and watching the game back today the body language of some of the players, the almost heartbroken state of the coach at the end and the frustration on the face of our owner, it all speaks volumes as to just how far we have sunk. Yet apparently we have a plan.

Off the field recruitment since Motu left has been sketchy at best and decidedly poor over the past two years. I can’t ever remember so many people particularly in my age group who have stopped going and/or who are no renewing their passes next season. Its there for all to see, for I wouldn’t want the person who calculated a gate of 9000 last night working out my gas bill!! Unlike other years that resistance to attending and renewing is no longer an idle threat, for I can tell by their oblivious attitude that they have simply had enough. That inertia will impact on game day income massively as well as on merchandising sales, corporate hospitality and other essential income streams. Central funding via Sky is diminishing, we have few if any means of raising income outside rugby and so it’s hard to see how Adam can keep things afloat for much longer. We are well supported by sponsors, but how long in the current situation will that go on for.

Look across the river at the Dobbins. They are struggling as much as we are on the field but there is light, they have bought their ground, got a new Aussie Coach coming in and made some signings that will I believe inspire their subscribers to buy into the club again next year. they have at least bought themselves some time. In addition, they keep their fans well informed ( since our new CE was appointed we seem to be by and large kept in the dark, can you remember the last fans forum?) and they also engender a family approach to the sport. All of which is Hard to accept and even harder for me to say, but true I think just the same.

In the end I guess all I’m saying is we should be careful what we wish for as fans, we can’t afford to get rid of the Coach or the senior player ‘mafia’, unless the former resigns with a broken heart, nor can we afford Marquee signings, in fact it’s hard to see with this perfect storm scenario, just how we will rise again. Our youth is our biggest asset but we saw last night what happens when too many of them are thrown to the lions. Still as long as they give 100% for us lot we can ask for no more. One things for sure selling season tickets to even the most faithful of fans is going to be an uphill struggle in 2023, because so many people seem to have just had enough of disappointment, frustration and of course, jam tomorrow. But it is the bigger picture closing in on us, that is our biggest threat as a club.

Here endeth the Epistle

Great post Wilf. The drive back to Leeds was very depressing last night after that performance, made worse with the M62 being shut. I'll renew next year but my patience is getting very thin. With I guess more bans coming I've wondering who on earth will play be the time we get to next Sunday after the Thursday night trip to Salford.

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 3:37 pm  

As depressing as our club is, I'll still be renewing my pass next season but I know 4 people who have said they won't be.
This is obviously a worry for our club as I'm sure this scenario will be repeated.

Where does the club go from here?
Give into player power again and get rid of the coach or try and pay off those players letting the coach and fans down.

It's a real chicken and egg situation but at this rate pass sales are going to be down yet again.
A coach who doesn't seem capable.
Players who don't give a t 0ss
And no marquee signing to sell passes.

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 4:26 pm  

Bombed Out wrote:

As depressing as our club is, I'll still be renewing my pass next season but I know 4 people who have said they won't be.
This is obviously a worry for our club as I'm sure this scenario will be repeated.

Where does the club go from here?
Give into player power again and get rid of the coach or try and pay off those players letting the coach and fans down.

It's a real chicken and egg situation but at this rate pass sales are going to be down yet again.
A coach who doesn't seem capable.
Players who don't give a t 0ss
And no marquee signing to sell passes.

If AP thinks Hodgson is the man to take the club forward he needs to give him as much support as possible.

At least one new experienced assistant and an overhaul of the conditioning staff is needed.

Re: Hodgson : Sat Aug 20, 2022 5:27 pm  

mwindass wrote:

If AP thinks Hodgson is the man to take the club forward he needs to give him as much support as possible.

At least one new experienced assistant and an overhaul of the conditioning staff is needed.

I agree. He either chucks all his eggs in 1 basket if Adam believes Brett is the right man and invest in an improved backroom set up.
We must be the most unfit and disorganised team in the league with no identity or intensity in our play.