: Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:48 am  

brad ''freddy'' fittler

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:56 am  

mav wrote:

I will never understand Huddersfield's love of Tony Smith.

You cannot blame him for finishing bottom in 2000 because he joined midway through the season and the damage was already done. But in his first full season in charge he managed to get the team relegated, then he stormed though the NFP with what was essentially an SL team in a part-time competition, before doing nothing especially praiseworthy on the Giants return to SL.

Michael.

He may have still ended up relegated, but he changed a team that lost into a team that could win, it wasnt so much just about results, but about the way the team played, approached a game, and kept on battling even in defeat, basically, he gave the team some pride.

sure in the NFP we were a different league (hehe shouldnt have been relegated ) but coming back up everyone expected us to keep getting spanked again, as we had the years previous, we didnt, in fact we just missed out on a playoff spot.

Maybe it was luck on his part, but he came in when we were a joke, and left a team on the edge of the playoffs (and only left because he couldnt get the budget he wanted to take us further) and that means a lot to the fans who kept watching the bad times.

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:06 pm  

tony smith played in the dragons grand final

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:16 pm  

mav wrote:

I will never understand Huddersfield's love of Tony Smith.

You cannot blame him for finishing bottom in 2000 because he joined midway through the season and the damage was already done. But in his first full season in charge he managed to get the team relegated, then he stormed though the NFP with what was essentially an SL team in a part-time competition, before doing nothing especially praiseworthy on the Giants return to SL.

Michael.

maybe you need to be a Huddersfield fan to understand it properly ! - basically he took over a team that was a complete joke and laughing stock and by then end of his reign we were accepted as a fairly decent SL club who had some pride back in the shirts.
the one thing the NFP season did was bring back a winning mentality to the club and put smiles bck on people's faces

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:17 pm  

GIANT DAZ wrote:

was bring back a winning mentality to the club and put smiles bck on people's faces

As is EXACTLY what is happening at Halifax at the moment.

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:27 pm  

Code13 wrote:

He may have still ended up relegated, but he changed a team that lost into a team that could win, it wasnt so much just about results, but about the way the team played, approached a game, and kept on battling even in defeat, basically, he gave the team some pride.

sure in the NFP we were a different league (hehe shouldnt have been relegated ) but coming back up everyone expected us to keep getting spanked again, as we had the years previous, we didnt, in fact we just missed out on a playoff spot.

Maybe it was luck on his part, but he came in when we were a joke, and left a team on the edge of the playoffs (and only left because he couldnt get the budget he wanted to take us further) and that means a lot to the fans who kept watching the bad times.

Not hard considering you had SL playersw and a much higher spending cap than the rest, along with parachute payments, a monkey could have got you back up

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:42 pm  

Code13 wrote:

Maybe it was luck on his part, but he came in when we were a joke, and left a team on the edge of the playoffs (and only left because he couldnt get the budget he wanted to take us further) and that means a lot to the fans who kept watching the bad times.

Fair enough he may have instilled a spirit that was lacking, but to me the big thing that turned the club around was finally being able to take a step back. As the club where never exempted from relegation in those previous seasons they were trapped into only being able to act in the short term and a constant state of uncertainty. Going down gave you a chance to regroup, look forward, then come back up in a much better shape.

I can certainly understand appreciation for what did Smith with him being in charge at that time, and I am not saying he did a bad job. Just that the level of the praise he receives that seems excessive. To me it seems Widnes winning the NFP was just as important to the club turning around as whoever was in charge at the time.

Michael.

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:58 pm  

littlerich wrote:

As is EXACTLY what is happening at Halifax at the moment.

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:09 pm  

Ignoring the bitter Rovers fan who clearly has no concept of what went on that season.

Mav, ironically, the season Huddersfield got relegated was probably the one season where they could claim to have been hard done to, losing out on points difference and not league points, certainly in the last 3rd of that season they were a genuinly competative side.

But yes, the best thing was being able to take a step backwards, restart with a bit more wisdom (Ken Davey has said he was very naive during our first time in SL, suggesting Huddersfield were perhaps taken advantage of by other parties, or were playing to the spirit of the game, rather than the letter)

Still, Tony Smith had a positive effect on the club, but as Daz has said, the real maestro of my memory at Huddersfield was Alex Murphy, and Huddersfield rise back to the top flight can be directly pinpointed as starting with him in the old 3rd Div.

: Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:39 pm  

Ken Trail the Wakefield Coach of the 1960s

Trinity swept all before them including the touring Australians and New Zealanders.

OH and will someone tell Fatty Vautin that Hasim El Masri is NOT the "World record point scorer of all time". That title belongs to Neil Fox and was earned during a time when Englans domestic league was a far higher quality than Australias and he also did it with three point tries.