Warrington Wolves • Re: Tony Smith Letter to the fans
A couple of things strike me about that letter.
He's covered more themes there than I would have thought he would in that kind of letter. He is revealing there that he knows what the fans think: they are concerned about the contract situation, recent recruitment and he knows his standing with the supporters has taken a nose dive over the past 12 months. I expect he either reads this forum or some form of social media and I expect it does bother him to some degree that he has not left with the standing he once had.
The comment about it being difficult to find high-quality players that are readily available hints that he has had frustrations with this side of the game in recent years and it can't have been as much fun as it was when he was picking up the likes of Hodgson and Solomona to boost an already top squad but Castleford and Hull have faced that same difficult environment in recent years and have strengthened their teams a lot.
I also think that comment about fans needing to convert in to supporters is falling in to the trap that many football managers do when they start saying stuff like "our supporters are great but...". Supporters react to what they see, if the team plays well they hail them as heroes, if they are crap the same supporters will slag them off...yes it might be fickle, but are coaches any different? I expect TS reserved the right to have a go at players in the dressing room if they had put in a flat performance. I wonder how he would have reacted if they said to him he should be a proper supporter of them and get behind them in bad times as well as good...
But also its revealing what he said about the most important thing being that he handled victory or defeat with dignity. TS was never a natural communicator with the media like Cullen or Shaun McRae, he could come across as awkward and aloof sometimes but he was always courteous, he had the manner of a gentleman and he carried himself with class.
In the end TS wasn't perfect but he has been one of the best coaches of the modern era and he will be associated with us more than any other club. I expect he will be remembered very fondly by our fans in time as people will forget his last season and hark back to the glory days.
Probably there will be some day in 2032, when at half time they bring out the 2012 Challenge Cup team for their 20th anniversary, and TS will get a massive ovation and those of us who are still on this forum will be banging on about the 'good old days' when Wire actually had an identity.
He's covered more themes there than I would have thought he would in that kind of letter. He is revealing there that he knows what the fans think: they are concerned about the contract situation, recent recruitment and he knows his standing with the supporters has taken a nose dive over the past 12 months. I expect he either reads this forum or some form of social media and I expect it does bother him to some degree that he has not left with the standing he once had.
The comment about it being difficult to find high-quality players that are readily available hints that he has had frustrations with this side of the game in recent years and it can't have been as much fun as it was when he was picking up the likes of Hodgson and Solomona to boost an already top squad but Castleford and Hull have faced that same difficult environment in recent years and have strengthened their teams a lot.
I also think that comment about fans needing to convert in to supporters is falling in to the trap that many football managers do when they start saying stuff like "our supporters are great but...". Supporters react to what they see, if the team plays well they hail them as heroes, if they are crap the same supporters will slag them off...yes it might be fickle, but are coaches any different? I expect TS reserved the right to have a go at players in the dressing room if they had put in a flat performance. I wonder how he would have reacted if they said to him he should be a proper supporter of them and get behind them in bad times as well as good...
But also its revealing what he said about the most important thing being that he handled victory or defeat with dignity. TS was never a natural communicator with the media like Cullen or Shaun McRae, he could come across as awkward and aloof sometimes but he was always courteous, he had the manner of a gentleman and he carried himself with class.
In the end TS wasn't perfect but he has been one of the best coaches of the modern era and he will be associated with us more than any other club. I expect he will be remembered very fondly by our fans in time as people will forget his last season and hark back to the glory days.
Probably there will be some day in 2032, when at half time they bring out the 2012 Challenge Cup team for their 20th anniversary, and TS will get a massive ovation and those of us who are still on this forum will be banging on about the 'good old days' when Wire actually had an identity.
Statistics: Posted by sally cinnamon — Fri Sep 29, 2017 10:12 pm