Bruce Almighty

I don't want to go round in circles on this but I dont think decrying Hornets greatest win in a generation is something most supporters would agree with, certainly we are a long way from ever remotely replicating that feat. This is my last post on this thread but here is a simple matrix on analysing on the success of otherwise of the club under any given circumstance. 1 Performance on the pitch 2 Attendances 3 Finance 4 PR (inc Social Media & Website) 5 Relationships People can judge for themselves.

The pandemic, reduction in funding etc. isn't and wasn't unique to Hornets. All the professional Rugby League teams have had to endure this. As it is we are currently the worst performing 'heartland' club and have been for 2 out of last 3 seasons. I suspect every year some teams spend big money at winning the league, but as we showed especially in 2016 its not the be all and end all. Hopefully Gary can get the lads playing and we can start to challenge for silverware again. I for one have faith in him to do this.

I think you make my point for me. Both Hornets and Hunslet as Supporter Own Models were/are able to attract people willing to invest in their respective clubs. As you yourself point out Hunslet, as a supporter own model are able to attract really talented people, as did Hornets under the same model. I hope, irrespective of which model we operate under we can all agree we need to start challenging for honours again. We need to recapture that winning culture.

I think it's only reasonable that supporters can express genuine concerns about the performance of the team/club, on or off the field. People raise concerns because I believe in the main they care about the club and want to see a winning side. I also think all genuine fans are happy that the current board came forward after the club had descended into a year of infighting. That said I for one was disappointed the supporter model did not kick on after those fantastic years of success, innovation and stability. I don't think the model is flawed, as Hunslet RLFC who use the same supporter model are showing us, (on and off the pitch) and they have also experienced the same decline in central funding. What it does show is that when we had the right people driving the club forward it worked, when we didn't, it didn't. I think that's the truth irrespective of what business model or plan you use. I like all genuine Hornets fans totally respect and admire Mr Ormerods contribution and ongoing support of the club, if ever there was a Hero of Hornets, then that is him. I have looked online at the Hornets accounts and although Mr Ormerod has put a huge amount of money into the club the vast majority wasn't given to the Supporter owned model, it went to the year Hornets was run by a management company put in place by the RFL I believe. Doing some basic maths from the accounts during the period of supporter ownership, he still though gave a substantial amount averaging a little over £4k a year, an amount not to be sniffed at, but then again the supporter owned model never lost £137k in a season, over the entire duration of support ownership it pretty much broke even. Hand on heart, in a lot of ways the club has gone backwards, certainly the results on the field have been by any standard poor, failing to even make the play-offs, our social media from being pretty good seems to have gone totally off the radar, the relationships with the Dale and/or Mayfield have at times been toxic, this must have contributed to absolute tragedy of not hosting the Fiji game. But, sport gives you the ability to wipe the slate clean each season. There are some green shoots to be positive/excited about, the new CEO Matt seems to be bringing a lot more positivity and is definitely making a really strong impression. Gary Thornton is a good coach with a good track record and with a bit of luck I am sure he can get the lads playing, and there seems to have been at least a pause in hostility with the Dale, hopefully this will continue. Hopefully we can all look forward to 2024 and it would be great if the lads cab lift some silverware again come this time next year.