Can’t believe this thread is on the second page and our win against Whitehaven only has thirteen comments!!! Not even mentioned as a rumour just straight out he’s our gaffa, yet in the League Express CH talks about Belshaw remaining as coach till the end of the season and no comment on speculation, we are working through the recruitment process, can’t get simpler than that. Swinton May have beaten Toulouse and Batley but only won four more and lost against Newcastle and Keighley and twelve others, if it’s anywhere near true, which I doubt it’s a defo step backwards👍
Haha.
Odd that on a site that regularly berates the club for poor communication there are many who don't read the communication anyway!
Belshaw is staying for this season as 'caretaker' and on into next year in his assistant role alongside Coleman.
Coleman will be involved in the signing of next year's squad until 1st October when he takes up his new role ae Widnes coach.
For once it sounds like we are organised!!!!!!!!
As a wild fantasy, unlikely as it may be, how about a situation where Neil Belshaw gets the club into the top 6 and the playoffs by the end of the season.
Playoffs start 1st October, Allan Cunningham starts 1st October, does the club stick with Neil coaching for the playoffs or let Allan take over.
Or do they work together coaching the team.
Maybe, just maybe with the squad playing well and a few changes to tactics introduced by Allan, get through the playoffs into the grand final and win that and promotion to super League.
Definitely a pie in the sky scenario.
I'm waiting for spelly to comment with his thoughts on the appointment. He probably knows more about his coaching style and ability than most.
I stand by it Winny, It came out of the blue and totally unexpected and defo not my choice. We trashed them twice and the reason they are in the relegation zone is simple they have lost 14 from 20 games some of them by larger scores than us, not the sign of a “great coach” but prob a cheap one like Finnigan. I will of course get behind him now and HOPE he succeeds👍
Disappointed he's going, but c'est la vie.
We've had coaches leave before, but I can't recall one "working his notice" previously!
He's done a decent job with us, coz we knew that after promotion, this term would be a lot harder than last. We've had some good wins, like Batley away, Toulouse and Sheff at home, plus of course when we turned you mob over at NP, but.......................
There's been some bad 'uns too, like when York nilled us at Heywood Road, and Newcastle doing the "double" over us, so.........
For the umpteenth time as a fan, I have the "Who's next for our hot seat?" thought in my head, but whoever it is, I'll still be a Lion when he departs!
Do I wish Coleman all the best? I didn't with any previous leavers, so why should start I now? As the old saying goes - "It you want loyalty, buy a dog!"
Spelly.
Thanks for that Spelly.
Loyalty is a thing of the past I'm afraid, way before 'professionalism' took over.
Iirc when Vinty was made 'coach' somebody asked him what was his contract. His response was that he didn't need a contract, he nodded to the club rep (may have been Frank Myler!!) and said I've shaken his hand, that's my contract!!!
But we move on. It is hard to judge from behind a keyboard but we have to trust in the judgement of the Board and the quality of the man.
At the end of the day all depends on the response of the players, some of whom we haven't even seen yet!
So we have a new coach. He appears to have had a good grounding & experience over a lengthy period of time & has had some successes at amateur level. He favours expansive rugby which we have all been asking for. So welcome aboard Allan. I for one am fully behind you in improving our performances consistently going forward. COYV!
Honestly didn’t know anything about Allan but really hope he pulls the team and fans together as soon as possible, the Vikings really need to show that we are not going to put up with being a mid table championship side, it’s time too pull together and push on🏁🏁🏁 here’s to the future 🤞🤞🤞
So we have a new coach. He appears to have had a good grounding & experience over a lengthy period of time & has had some successes at amateur level. He favours expansive rugby which we have all been asking for. So welcome aboard Allan. I for one am fully behind you in improving our performances consistently going forward. COYV!
I thought something simlar, looking at his background, he's got a lot of experience with amateur success with plenty of success and trophies plus experience with the England community lions at all levels. He got Swinton promoted in his first full year as coach. Not getting a lot from Swinton this year, but as somebody said, they had a lot of injuries earlier on in the season and had to rely on loan players and only have a small squad. No experience at higher levels though. So a big step up for him. But he's proved he can coach successfully with amateur players who have less experience than semi-pro players, so potentially a good choice. He won't have to teach semi-pro players as much as the amateurs he's previously coached which should let him coach as a team rather than teaching individual players what he wants. If he can bring his experience of trophy winning teams and tactics to semi-pro players, he deserves a chance.
We had the World Cup winning former Aussie coach in Tim Sheens who didnt seem to improve the team too much but I think this guy is what Widnes need. He has earned his stripes at amatuer and semi pro level and has coached Swinton on a shoestring budget to promotion and victories against us and Toulouse.
I would hope this will be another Neil Kelly type appointment of somebody who can get the maximum out of a team.
The more I've read about his track record, the happier I am with the appointment- he has won in different environments and that speaks to having good man management abilities and the ability to improve players.
Maybe he can pick up one or two decent players from Semi-Pro RU or the better Amateur teams.
The only question mark is will those strategies work with the expectation and the higher quality of players for an aspiring Top 4/6 Championship Team.
Well at last the news is out, I think this is a good appointment, keeping Neil in the fold as well
Kelly was a bit of a strange appointment at the time but that worked well
lets enjoy the rest of this season and see where we go from there
onwards and upwards
In my opinion Littler is a better coach than Coleman. That's based on watching several Swinton games with Littler in charge in 2019 and Coleman in charge in 2021. Although, Coleman was new to coaching championship rugby then having been assistant to Littler. I guess we shall see come next year.
We can all have an opinion, but the only real test is to see what squad is assembled for 2024 and how the team performs.
As has been said, let's (hopefully) enjoy the rest of this season and then look forward with the some confidence to 2024.
Just pleased that the Club have announced the appointment and maybe 2024 could just be our year!!!!
Just as a bit of wind up (and of course, if we're still in the middle tier) I'd love to go to NP next term, replicate what we did a few weeks ago, and.....................
Sing "Coleman, Coleman, what's the score? Coleman, what's the score?"
Biased moi?
Spelly.
🤣 🤣 🤣