The Voodooguru

They have announced he is leaving at the end of the season.

Very true, but my point was that given those circumstances we still played a certain style of low risk rugby in attack. Chips over or through a quickly up defensive line, 40/20s, offloads, high kicks to the tallest winger in the league, inventive set attacking plays were all few and far between. We were getting nilled and he seemed to accept this.

I have never liked the idea of player coach, just doesn't work imo. But having said that I'd happily be proved wrong if that was the way the club decided to go. I don't think it matters if they are local or not. If they are good enough word soon gets around and the players will want to be involved, and vice versa. Good local players are well known so it doesn't really take a lot of inside knowledge. I think Chris ended up way too negative in how the team played. They didn't go out to win every game and the tactics ended up with us getting hammered by not being brave enough. I'd rather we played entertaining rugby than the stuff from last season. If we get beat, then we do it trying to win. So for me it is a must that the new coach isn't afraid to coach a bit of risk & reward into the tactics to entertain the spectators as that's what it's all about, right?

Hopefully this is already well down the road for selection. But who do you want? A newly retired ambitious / young coach or an experienced old head? Buffer, JD, Matty Smith, Ewan Dowes, Gus, Anthony Murray, Willie Poching, Rooney, etc or bring an Australian over and hope he's another Peter Walsh?

I thought they said that phases 2 & 3 were dependent on corporate funding of which nothing was remotely guaranteed. They even talked about Rolls Royce coming to oldside which isn't now happening. Given how much everything has increased in cost lately I fear for the quality and extent of the stadium if it can in fact be called one if it ends up being a one sided bus shelter. However they people presenting the concept were very credible so let's hope they can pull a big rabbit out of a very small hat.

A new coach whoever it is needs appointed ASAP otherwise we will be in the same position as last season for signing players. I don't care if they are local or not as long as it's the right appointment. A local coach might be the less expensive option but who is up to the job? Rooney almost came once before but that probably won't happen again while Mr Murdoch is still here. There should be no shortage of applicants, let's hope the BOD get it right

Why are you quoting me here Brookie? At no point did I say he was solely to blame, in fact in my second paragraph I point out that much of it was out of his hands. I also never mentioned his man management.

Think it's probably the right time for Chris to move on. He deserves our thanks for a very memorable year culminating in a home play off game that we will probably never see the like of again. He always spoke well and had us all eating out of the palm of his hand at times. But for whatever the reasons are this season has been an almost complete disaster. A lot of it was nothing to do with Chris but he was still in the eye of the storm dealing with the fall out of it all, which he has done with dignity throughout. Having said all that at times I've been left completely baffled by some of the selections and tactics throughout this season. For a bloke who puts a lot of detailed preparation in and studies opposition prior to games I really struggled to understand what we were trying to do at times. I won't go into the stuff that has been said a thousand times before, but his unwavering belief that our style of play would work probably finished us well before relegation was confirmed as we have had the bluntest attack and worst defence all season, yet still to me we played more or less the same way believing in the low mistake low risk approach no matter what the scoreboard says . Is that not exactly what Einstein's definition of insanity is? It's been disappointing that we didn't try anything remotely risky to try and sharpen our attacking threat and just meekly accepted our fate. It's easy to pull the bloke apart from the stands, and to me he doesn't deserve that. Thanks for the memories of last season Chis and good luck for the future marra. UTT

Is the beer not watered down a DP or something? After the season we have endured you'd better believe the place is quieter than usual, but the lads were still singing, because you didn't hear it doesn't mean it didn't happen. They were even singing about travelling to Cornwall next year. Enjoy your win, without playing well you won easily. Just remember that the sun even shines on a dogs asre now and again! Good luck next season.

When Haven were in trouble I threw money in to help,as have some of theirs now its our turn to face trouble. But you can't account for the ones that get offended by a forum post or think it will incite a riot. What a load of rhubarb! Grow up kids eh? Today Haven won at a canter, and we went out with a wimper. I hope some of our team watch the video back and learn from the difference in attitude and desire. From taking a ball in to chasing kicks some of our team was just going through the motions. If we get beat and the whole team has a dig then I'll accept that but today and this season hasn't been like that. Let's hope we retain all the 100% players and say thanks and goodbye to the others no matter who they are. Good luck to Haven for next season in the Championship and let's hope we can pull through this and get a half decent team for next year learning from the mistakes made this season. UTT

Don't know about anyone else but I'm a bit underwhelmed with the latest statement. As has been said above it is a lot of words for not a lot of content. The first question answers are a bit baffling. You move up a league and wages etc go up, was this a shock to everyone that wasn't budgeted for? They say forecasts were based on a sensible model, but how sensible was it if this is the outcome? I concede that nobody could forsee Russia causing the pain it has financially. But expecting steady or increased crowds when you are getting stuffed every week us just nuts. It also reads as though somebody who i assume is Chris has had free reign on recruitment and they are now pulling it back in, again that blows my mind. Kid in a sweet shop springs to mind. It sounds like the playing standard of the championship was severely underestimated. The deep dive comment suggests nobody has previously had any handle on how the business is run. Why has this taken so long? It reads as though the club has just been taken over from a previous owner that was a charlatan and nobody was aware of how things were ran previously. Really? Fair play to Chris & the players as they have taken the pay cut. And hopefully there is now a handle on the crisis but fork me I don't get a warm feeling about it at all. Hope I'm wrong. We wanted some coms and now have it so fingers crossed rock bottom has been reached. UTT

1st try was especially harsh with the penalty, then looked like they lost the ball in the tackle. But we just can't catch a break can we? Need to try keeping the ball alive as its the only way we will break their line. Come on lads.

Good luck to the lads today, let's show that we are still alive and kicking despite all the adversity! Town 24 Haven 18 UTT

Honestly been torn with this one as I'm very annoyed with how this has been handled by the BOD. Virtually all communication has stopped, no explanation how this has been mismanaged so badly or anything, just two statements saying we are up the creek and the players are taking a pay cut. Reading other posts from people who should know something it seems as though the few home matches for the second half of the season and the league position with reduced attendance is to blame. It is like this is a complete surprise to everyone! So nobody thought that after the fixtures came out to save something for the latter end of the season to pay the players? I also don't consider myself an expert by any means but it's no surprise that given our squad strength that we have been fighting relegation all season which to me means the floating supporters find something else to spend their money on. A losing team always drops to its core support. I don't know where to point a finger at the lack of depth of the squad, has Chris underestimated the championship or has he always known it was woefully under strength but couldn't afford more? Either way it appears the BOD were confident we would stay up and budgeted as such, but then when London won a couple recently the penny dropped and the knee jerk started. Am I wrong? Probably, in some parts, but without any knowledge I rely on info from work and add what I think is plausible. The Teare & Walker situation has really ###### me off, as the mantra has always been that we are taking the best of local talent as they are the future of our club. Before the season is out they are both off over the hills playing for other clubs. Absolutely ridiculous that this has happened. The Davies brothers and the French pair are just another two examples that I just can't get my head around. It looks to me the ordinary fan who just pays his money to watch his team as though there's no joined up thinking at all. We need props and get two hookers, we bring lads over from France and they don't play a game. For all the above reasons in these times when money doesn't go as far, I've questioned whether any donation I make will be wisely spent. I absolutely appreciate every member of that BOD and anyone else that puts their hand up and volunteers for the club, but that doesn't mean that the people who make the decisions shouldn't front up and explain to every person that has donated their money what has gone wrong and why. They have my respect, but it's a two way street and I'd feel a lot better about doing it if a bit of contrition was shown and someone at least had the balls to hold their hand up and say "you know what, we got it wrong, and this is why. This is what we need to get through the season so we can regroup and go again next season." As much as I am torn, I'm still a town fan. So I'll donate, and I'll keep coming down as I have for the last few decades, enjoying the days like the play off less than a year ago and enduring the torture of hardly seeing a try scored this year. But it's definitely a low point in all the years I watched them. UTT.

It's all absolutely true what you have said but the bit i don't get is six weeks ago there was money for new players, now players wages are being cut. Has someone forgotten to add a zero on the spreadsheet or were they still convinced we would have this miraculous turn of form and nobody else would win a game?

Yeah that's right it was that Jordan Jameater bloke on radio Cumbria.

You have a short memory if you think this season is up there with one of the worst marra. Its been disappointing but nowhere near and of the dark days we have endured.

Agree, he still has credit in the bank for me although sometimes this season I've been pulling my hair out with certain tactics. But we are all armchair Wayne Bennett's aren't we? Chris has made a big commitment to Town, let's hope its not the end of the road just yet.

For me it will be interesting to see what develops from this. As far as I know and please put me right but are Chris & JD the only full time employees at town. I can't see them getting shot of Jammer and didn't Chris only recently sign a 5 year deal with the club? Maybe the axe will fall on our travelling players, who knows. I don't know where it went wrong but I'm sure our new chairman was aiming towards the play offs at the start of the season. Something went badly wrong to be where we currently are. I don't know why the squad wasn't strengthened enough. We all lauded Chris last season and rightly so, but I've been left scratching my head sometimes this season. Just has not worked out at all. I expected we would probably get relegated but I thought they would put up a fight doing it, I didn't expect getting hammered every week. On the plus side, the fan zone and the efforts to generate money have been superb and hopefully can be built on. The motown and October fest are excellent initiatives. Let's hope they can be built on. Whatever is round the corner hopefully our directors have it in hand and we can do a Barrow and bounce back up with interest. Can someone please win the Euromillions on Tuesday, I'm gonna put an extra line on now! UTT

Looks like there's some hard decisions being made from the first statement just released. Who's getting sacked?

Fax were nice to watch when they played at DP. All we have to be concerned about is getting some improvement in our attacking play. When you concede for fun and can't score any points it's a recipe for losing. The lads may as well chance their arm and play high risk stuff from the start as nowt else works.... but we won't. Good luck, UTT.

Halifax have had 5 banned today, I don't suppose we would be lucky enough that it will be for our game will it?

So is this speculation or fact that he can play against us? It beggars belief that we would allow that to happen when we are fighting for our lives when Haven are only 3 places above us in the league. Surely this can't be true can it?

I'm pleased somebody else saw the kick go wide of the posts, how they can get that wrong is unbelievable. As has been said the lads gave it a go yesterday but its just not a level playing field. It's out of the way now, and just move onto the next one and try and get some points scored as we can't win games if we don't score.

Just spotted there's an interview with Chris on radio Cumbria. He still says there are one or two who won't play again, and didn't mention Cus as injured