Have to disagree, the financial ruin of the club lay firmly at the hands of the directors. If it hadn't have been for Wigan bankrupting themselves in search of glory we'd have certainly won something in the mid 90's under Doug. He wasn't liked at Leeds for having the bottle to put Schoey in his place.



He did, however instigate a youth set-up long before Dean Bell arrived on the scene - producing Mozza, Paul Anderson, Nick Fozzard, Graham Holroyd, Francis Cummins, Marcus Vass, Mick Shaw, Matt Schultz. If you remember the 1994 cup final, Francis Cummins was up against Bell! Granted not all of them made it big time, but the foundations were in place for the academy.



Returning to topic I think Smith is just the coach Warrington need.

Who signed Kevin Sinfield and Adrian Morley?



Who gave the first wave of Academy products like Francis Cummins, Paul Cook and Marcus vass their debuts?



Laughton was the first coach since the seventies that viewed the reserves as a place to prepare players for the 1st team and not a completely separate team that played on Friday nights.



Laughton was appalled at the lack of scouting and youth development when he came to Leeds.



Whatever he did right or wrong we have a lot to thank him for, and Bell for carrying it on.



Your memory needs refreshing my friend.

His Leeds players loved him. That is reported fact.



His Leeeds players hated him. That is unsubstantiated rumour and conjecture.



He won trophies. That is a fact.

Agreed - he won trophies - it would be easy to say he won two trophies and gloss over everything else that happened?



To say the Leeds players loved him is also unsubstantiated rumour and conjecture. Nobody came out in 2007 and critisised the decision to let him go.



The fact that he was forced to take a job that wasn't his first choice of role and the fact that Leeds were happy for him to go should not be overlooked. By Smith's own admission a change was required.



As I said Smith is an enigma - England spactacularly under-performed in the WC how much of that was the players and how much of that was Smith's inability to get the best out of the players - possibly a combination of the two.



We have always had polarised opinions about Smith - his record stands scrutiny and if that is how you judge a coach on trophies won then he had two good years and two poor years.



That is the interesting thing about Smith did they win trophies because of or inspite of his input?

So 2005 was poor then Er????

We won the wcc for the 1st time and competed in both finals FFS what do class as a good year then??

Slow down and read the post correctly!!



What I said was if you judge how good a coach is by how many trophies he has won - which is Gareth's premise fair point to him - then 2005 and 2006 would be seen as failure?



We lost the 2005 CC final in part through appalling team selection by Smith

If you do David, then please explain to me how Graham Murray is still loved by leeds fans, and most on here were upset at the thought and rumours of him coaching hull, yet he only won one trophy and bombed in the play-offs in 1999

No it isn't David. Its' based upon quotes players made at the end of the 2007 season and directly after the GF. Quotes directly attributable to the players, inlcuding Danny McGuire.



Now, we can theorise about why they might have said it but that's conjecture and supposition.



What's clear is they said it.

To be fair David was saying that is how I judge a good coach, and I do.



I liked Murray but, frankly, as a Leeds coach he doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Smith.



Its' a sad indictment of our fanbase that Murray probably remains more popular than Smith to this day.

No it isn't. Murray was more likeable than Smith. Sorry if you don't want to hear that, but it's true.



Being popular isn't always just a matter of Silverwear.

Not all players said this though!!

Yes it is (a sad indictment).



None of us know Murray or Smith personally. We shouldn't form our opinions on their public personality. We should form them on their results.



So you have ably demonstrated my point. I "liked" Smith much more because he delivered what i had craved for so long. Most of our fan base "liked" Murray because he said the right things and smiled at the right time.



A sad indictment of an ill informed fan base many of whom are reared upon, and accept mediocrity.