It's a tough situation and he's certainly under pressure. If you break down a squad you've got different categories of player. We've got some really talented players at the club IMO but we've got others who are way too inconsistent and just aren't doing it at the minute.
Dawson and Owens try hard but they aren't going to break teams down off their own back on the right edge. We've had problems in the centre all season for me and I think it's impacted the way we've played. Percival is a talent who we need fit. If you look at the game on Friday we had plenty of good ball but didn't look like breaking Warrington down. They defended really well tbf to them but when we shift the ball wide, Owens and Dawson aren't going to isolate defenders on their own backs. The effect is that we are relying on our halves to come up with something whether it be a kick or a flat ball to a forward who crashes over the line. We are so easy to defend against and these issues ultimately come back to recruitment and who you're bringing in. We lack that pace and athleticism out wide to really hurt teams. Percival's return may help that somewhat.
I can have sympathy with this to a certain extent. Certain things that get said stay behind closed doors and I understand that other things go on over the course of the season. I love the club and try and judge each game as it comes. When we play well I'll be the first to sing their praises but you have to be realistic and understand that we have big problems at the minute. Confidence is a big thing and right now the players don't have much of it but the club need to show some honesty here. It's poor performance after poor performance and although we are capable on our day we are in a mess at the minute and these little digs at the fans aren't doing him favours. He was an outstanding player and that will never be forgotten but he needs to understand why the supporters feel how they do at the minute and show some sympathy with that.
However you dress it up things need to change. Defensively we are consistently poor and concede too many points. Even when we do attack well we need to score 30 points to win a game and you can't play like that.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
It depends how you look at players. To me they are people in a shirt playing a sport I love and for a club I love. If they do the job on the pitch and don't break the law or act terribly off it then I'm not too fussed. And I also don't really care too much about what they are like as people, because I have no right to judge them as men just because I watch them play RL. Whereas, when you're a coach it's so much more than simply about the job of winning games. It's about being one of the faces of a club, being the man in the spotlight and being able to handle alot of things away from matchdays. KC isn't doing too well on this front, but I won't think any worse of him as a player because as a player he was everything I could have ever asked for. A local lad, played hard, played fair, and played to a really high level. What he was like for the other six days of the week back then didn't concern me. What he says and how he acts as the main man at our club between games does concern me now though, but it's two different things for me.
I thought that Cunningham might just try and keep his head down this week.
But No. Two absolute gems.
“People are like sheep. One person says something and it almost becomes a trend to jump on board"
Actually a lot of people have reflected over a number of years and reached their own conclusion regarding the club
and its current coach.
“We have done that in the past and ended up with players for two or three years
when after 12 months we are all thinking ‘What the hell is he doing at this club?"
You are in charge of recruitment so you should know.
I think it is clear Cunningham considers himself bulletproof and actively taunts critical fans.
Disappointing but not that surprising.
Wasn't Nathan Brown once quoted as saying St. helens fans are some of the most knowledgeable in the game?
Cunningham clearly doesn't think so
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Sorry I wasn't prepared to let him grow. This is a business and I don't pay my money to watch a youth training scheme. I said the role should not have been given to him and I stand by that now still 100%. He was a legendary player, that's it. I want a proven coach not a maybe he will be good. Next time we are having an extension built, maybe a friendly spark could do it? Bollocks!
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I think Nathan Brown did say that.
Paul Anderson used to also the think the same. (See the last sentences in the article) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugb...ns/6039942.stm
Can anybody remember a coach from any sport who has slagged fans off for a sustained period like this?
There have of course been outbursts (usually before a sacking) and Mike McLennan's famous tangle with a fan but I can't recall this happening before
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It's been 31 years, since 1974, we last won a major (trophy and) Andrew Johns and Natty (Nathan Wood), our two oldest players were born in 1974 so it's a little bit spooky,
There is a common trait in teams at this point in the season that they seem to sit back and wait for somebody to win the game for them. And we had too many of our players waiting for someone to win the game.
"interfacing at the ruck"
"winning the go-forward"
"i thought we won the collision"
Apparently Cunningham sees that there's lots of sparkle about the place! Wonder what he's been polishing?