Official West Hartlepool RFC

Have you seen the player profiles??? At least half of them need removing as no longer playing for the club for various reasons. Seriously needs updating....come on Dave!!! ;)

There are 76 players registered for the first team at the moment and I'm not removing any of them until I'm told.

Watched game yesterday. Was hugely disapointed by the perforemance against what one may say was a very poor opposition. Confidence is lacking and what didnt help was the tirade by one coach after one of the tries.Come back Slob..

Think your comments are bang out of order, I think Dicko is doing a commendable job considering the sh*t he has 'single handedly' had to deal with this season! As the above posts state there are over 40 players that he does not have the luxury of calling on to play and he and the lads have applied themselves fully in the majority of games this season. Such comments have no place on this message board and if you had any comments, Iain was in the club till half 7 last night and I'm sure he would have spoken with you about these! Carlo

I think it had been and still is a difficult season for the club as a whole but the whole club needs to pull together and work together to put things right. OK so people have left and we may go down, it's disappointing but not the end of the world is it. We can re group and start to rebuild for next season. I think all the lads in all the teams have and still are giving their all on the field. Let's not slag people off on here. All the coaches give their time as do the players and are doing things as best they can with what they have available.
Onwards and upwards!!

What an incredibly inane comment from "Old Sheperd"

Totally agree with Carlo's comments.

The fact that we can compete at all at this level is down to the skill, dedication and tenacity of all the coaches involved.

Consider the number of young players who have come through the ranks this season, to play for the first team, they are keen, talented players who have to be molded into a functional team, which unfortunately doesn't just happen overnight.

If this squad of players and coaches are able to stay together for next season, I believe we will see a return to winning ways.

The squad has changed massively from last season. You only have to look at our struggles at times to get 2 teams out on a Saturday.

Having said that, the young lads who have come into the team this season like Sam Miller and Luke Mallinson for example have played exceptionally well.

Ideally as a club we would like players to gain their senior rugby experience in the Development Team (Stags) but the amount of players who have left, injuries, bans, unavailabilities when games have been rearranged this hasn't been able to happen.

We are going through a transition period and all the players are giving 100% every time they take the field no matter what team they are in. We have a good core group of players at the club and as we have seen with Adam Phillips coming through from the U17's into the Stags, we have some exciting talent who will be pushing next season.

All the boys who have played first team this season should be proud of themselves. Agreed results haven't gone our way but we haven't been consistently hammered week in week out.

Dicko is doing a great job like Carlo said especially given he sometimes has to travel from the bottom of the country to lead a training session on a Tuesday or Thursday. I know many people who would have jacked it in by now but he is still here giving 100% like the lads are on the field.

We all want things to turn around quickly but what we need to happen isn't a quick fix, it can't be. Too many players have left or stopped playing this season and the boys who have come in have been very unlucky (Rollins and Grazier).

Lets try and remain positive for the rest of the season or speak to the lads or the coaches at the club on a Saturday if you would like to air your views.

Cheers,

Walla

just thought i would add my opinion to this thread .i have had the pleasure of playing and working with several coaches in the past 13/14 years and can find fault with all and i have found ian to be the most rounded and even of them all. he has been put on one hell of a learning curve this season and will learn a hell of a lot from this season as should the players because believe it or not you learn more about youself ,your team and the game when you are losing (i have alittle experience of this). as regards to his rant at the players all i can say is the player in me wanted to more than rant at them in the hope of instilling a bit of self belief and passion

gez

"Old Shepherd", Your comments are superbly timed, at a time when the club, players, coaches etc. obviously need a boost to morale and a change in fortune, you are not helping.

Enough has been said from Walla and Gez about the coaching set up, so not to dwell, but for a first season as a coach he has had to put up with enough issues to last a lifetime. Why he is still with us I do not know, I only hope that if\when he reads your comments it does not cause the club a (another) problem.

The senior players that have disappeared for whatever reason need to be back with us, the younger players have came in and performed well. The issue on Saturday was that the team with a couple of exceptions were massively below par in terms of skills and taking the right decision. This was frustrating and not up to the standard of the last few weeks.

So, instead of critisising the coach/management/current players, and asking for previous coaches to return you should ask slob why he left in the first place, I am sure he will give you a good idea of what it takes to coach in this era,this is not an easy job in the current situation.

We need to keep going, get players back, continue to bring our young talent through and things will improve over time. The new clubhouse and facilities will be superb and we need to make sure that we have a competitive side to go along with that.

I don't think anyone who has seen the effort put in by Iain, Olly and Sos could criticise them for one minute.
This has been a disastrous season with spurious citings, injuries and work commitments depriving them of key players.
Once results started to go against us other players seemed to find commitments of their own.

Old Shepherd does make a valuable point about petulance. It is evident both on and off the pitch at times and just does not help.
It has been a frustrating season. Let's channel that frustration into putting in maximum effort, finishing the season with some respectability and with a platform for next season.

face facts>>>you are not a national league club and neither are Billingham>>>the best place for the likes of Rovers, West, City, Billingham and Middlesbrough is in North One East>>>once you step up and start having to travel long distances you have to start paying players and none of us can do that>>>

Yes realistically West will be in N1E next season and maybe that gives an opportunity to rebuild. Middlesbrough are battling hard. I suspect Billingham are pleased with a probable top half of the National 3 league position at the end of the season.
But Rovers? Surely N1E is an impossible dream hence the abuse?

what abuse>>>i was making a valid point that unless you can pay players N1E is as high as you can aim>>>

Except for the two amateur clubs in N3N currently in the top 8 perhaps?

History is made ... SCH makes a valid and very true point.
As for old shepherd, can he really be a supporter, airing comments like that in the way he has?
Or has he made his views known personally to the people he has slagged off?

While it's not great to be losing every week, I don't see it a necessarily a bad thing after all the changes to personnel that we've had. Most weeks an inexperienced, young side has put in a good performance, often matching a team from the top of the table for long periods of the match. This bodes well for next season when the team will have had experience of playing at a higher level.

I know that I am now living and working in the land of the south.
However I would like to add my little piece. The club is having a difficult time we will bounce back. Peter G is keeping me informed of just how well the youngsters are doing at the club and from my experience in the long term, only good can come from being thrown in at the deep end.

On the issue of paying players in national 3 the club i'm playing for now don't pay the players just coaching staff, which I would say is true for 40% of the league. We are top of the league and now having to worry about how we will be able to hopefully survive in N2 next season.

So it can be done and West will be having the wonderful problem of promotion next year I am sure.