I wonder if he also still has a penchant for playing 2nd rowers and loose forwards at prop?

Edited for accuracy.

Steve McCormack has been announced as Barrows new coach

Commiserations Gary.Looking positively,at least your squad is more or less in place now and even McComic can't balls this one up.Can he?

You should have stuck with Dave Clark, but then who am i to question crazy Des's judgement? Good luck, you'll need it.

I think it's bizarre that Dave Clark gets coach of the year and they gets demoted, if I was Clark I'd have been out the door a long time ago.



I actually think McCormack is a decent coach, I wasn't disappointed to see him leave Widnes as he couldn't take us as far as we'd like to go. But for Barrow with how far they've come in 2 years it's a good appointment. People have jumped on the McCormack bandwagon far too easily without looking at what he has achieved. This '5 drives and a kick' description is a load of rubbish for me, Gateshead weren't playing that way, and if anyone has the DVD of Widnes' win over Haven in the Northern Rail Cup Final in 2007 it's the best we've played for a long time. Cas away in the league the same season. He has limitations, but he can get results. Hes got huge motivation now to do at Barrow what he didn't do at Widnes.

And he had huge motivation to do at Widnes what he didn't do at Haven before that and Salford before that and with all the resources he needed to do it.



I actually like the guy but the way he set up the team this year was frankly bizarre and getting rid was the absolute right decision for mine.



Would you have him back over Paul Cullen??

I answered that question before you even asked it.

My post had nothing to do with the decision to let McCormack go as Widnes coach, it was regarding the perception of him and how that relates to his new job at Barrow. They'll be a better side with McCormack and Clark rather than just Clark in my opinion.

Indeed you did.. apologies AJ... I still think it is a bizarre appointment. They do not seem to be a team that wants to rest on their laurels.. but I can't see this being anything other than a backward step.

Clark is very good technically. He understands the game, he knows how to build a squad and he gets Barrow playing expansive rugby. It was his decision to move out of the head coaches position when he started to have issues around man management and motivational aspects of the job. Both issues purely down to his very short time in coaching, he has stated he wants to improve this aspect of his skills by learning from an experienced coach. Clarke has an agreed development plan with the club and will be back as head coach when he has the experience he believes he needs.

In my opinion motivation is McCormac's biggest downfall. Frequently our team would come out half asleep. Don't think we got over this until we got Mick Cassidy as trainer.