I thinkwe already have 65,023 posts bagging Phil Smyth.

Why dont you keep it there instead of just starting yet another one.

Bob
I don't disagree that Fairytale has gone past his used by date, he was past it last year if not the year before.

His lack of accountability irks me no end, along with his (and his coaching staff) inability to nurture or develop juniors.

The lack of intensity in some games, the lack of defence or any game plan the list could go on.

However in saying all that I believe he should stay the year out. Personally I wouldn't want Steve coaching either. New season new start, appoint a new coach or at least looking for a new coach will make me renew my season tickets. I will vote with my ticket next season if Smyth & Co are not longer there.

I believe in staying wth him because he probably has a no cut contract like when he was playing and i'm damned if basketball is going to foot the bill for him to sit on his ass. Also a contract is binding in my opinion and should be honoured.

I can't remember when an NBL coach was cut adrift mid season.

Phil should coach the year out, no question.

When does his contract expire? I had a feeling it was at the end of the year.

There is more than enough reasons for management to have to a good hard look at whether it is in the club's beneft to retain him for the future.

How can you not love Phil for the three championships? However, the cold hard truth is that Phil won 3 titles in his first 5 years. If the Sixers don't win the title this year (and no one is expecting us to come close) then he would have won 0 titles in his following 5 years.

Has it just got stale? Is his heart in it anymore? Has he just got too comfortable? Have opponent coaches worked out how to play the same Smyth system that baffled many at first? Or, is it the players and not the coach?

I think the style of play required in the NBL these days is passing him and therefore players by....

We are starting to look like a team of complete "pussy's" compared to other NBL teams.

Get tough sixers.

ShaneD

That was me (anon #99051)

Onya Yogee & Nutwork!!

Nutwork if the sixers perform well this season and make into the top four i will donate $100 to the Hudson Maher foundation.

Sadly they won't but I'll donate that amount anyway

Nutwork...that's all fine and true, if we were only talking about this season. They flat out stink so far this year. They are rotten. But you are quite right, there is enough time to turn it around for this season. Hopefully they do.

But if they continue to stink this year, it will be another 'nothing' season sitting on top of four other 'nothing' seasons, that make up the last 5 years. They are 1-5 in the finals over the last four years and it's getting boring. You don't mind the struggles if you can see light at the end of the tunnel. But there is no light at the end of the tunnel! There is no youth, no flexibility or initiative within the coaching ranks to inspire optimism.

There are big questions regarding our best player (Maher) and the likelihood of him being in top form towards the end of the season following 30 odd games played in the 40 minute range. We have one import playing well but has a history of injury problems while the other import is underperforming to the point that his own die hard fans (like myself) are openly questioning his desire.

We have two formerly great players (Copeland, Wheeler) whose usefulness and durability are highly questionable. We have effective but extremely limited role players like Cooper, Nash & Ng. We have one young player who might have a future (Hill), but he has struggled to find extensive minutes so far in his career. Majstrovich is so far looking the goods but his impact on the long term success of the team will be somewhat limited.

Top that off with a coach who, let's be honest, despite his tremendous record hasn't pulled anything out of the hat for a few years now.

I would like to see some things change.

Can people stop bringing up our championships of years ago. That was a great effort, a great team and at that time the right coach but it seems sixers coaching staff and many sixers fans are complacent with our past achievements. Weve lost our hunger and are resting on those championships. time to move on and get back to the top.

Jasmine what I was saying is you can't change things for this year now. At the end of the season Mal will decide if Phil & Co. continue on as coaches and what players are re-signed or not. Until the end of the season support the team we have and after the season judge them on achievement.

Every player & coach will be judged at the end of a full season, not just 4 games.

Nutwork...thanks for telling me that. Without you letting me know I would have thought the players and coach would have been accessed only on how they started the season. This makes much more sense.

In regards to the rest of your post. I think I said ealier that Phil should coach the year out.

Also, discussing the team's short term future in no way inhibits my ability to support the team in the present. It might you, but not me. Besides, I also spent a while talking about the bigger picture of the past few seasons.

Smyth's and the 36ers inability to recruit or scout future young players is the only downfall in my opinion. There inability to entice young South Australian talent to stay here is dismal. Especially in most cases when the 36ers are the front runner cos there in their home state. From what Ive heard, is that when the do talk to young players they dont make them feel welcome, and think that its below them to give the player special treatment. With minimal effort you would think that the 36ers could have Maher, Holmes, Forman, Newley, Ingles, Hill. That Australian core group is young, (besides Maher) exciting, will sell plenty of tickets, and will be around for a few years. Add 2 impors, a few role players and that team in my opinion competes with any team now and especially in the future. I believe that every SA basketball fan would love to see that. But this is all hindsight, and the sixers wont compete for another championship in at least 5 years, at least I cannot see any future in this team, and it wont win now so its hard to be bothered with them. I would hate to see Brad Hill leave after this year, cos he wont get any individual coaching here or even a chance. And dont be surprised if Brett Maher leaves too. He has to know that there is no future here in Adelaide.

Instead of going on about why Smyth did or didn't recruit certain players, don't forget the club didn't have an owner till the end of July, hence players were unable to be signed before then.

Note the following & figure it out PLEASE!

"31/7/06

SA Government to sell 36's

The South Australian Government has accepted a recommendation that the Basketball Association of South Australia to sell the licences of elite basketball teams the Adelaide 36ers and the Adelaide Lightning, as well as the basketball stadium, the Distinctive Homes Dome.

A consortium of Mal Hemmerling and Eddy Groves were the successful bidders for the Adelaide 36ers licence and the Distinctive Homes Dome.

The final offer price for both assets is around $4 million.

The successful bidder for the Adelaide Quit Lightning licence was Link Engineering Pty Ltd, a Whyalla based business.

SA Treasurer Kevin Foley says "the proceeds from the sale of BASA's assets will be used to part repay BASA's outstanding debt to the Government of $11.8 million."

Mal Hemmerling is presently the Chairman of the NBL and has a long basketball history throughout the country. He is the Chief Exectuive of the City of Adelaide and was formerly the Chief Executive of the Sydney Olympics and Australian Grand Prix.

In addition, a new entity has been formed called Basketball South Australia which will act as the peak body for basketball in South Australia and will represent, for the first time, all of the basketball community throughout South Australia."

Dana
you are just been listening to Phil's fairytales

Oh he's been hampered in the past by poor management

Hmmm wasn't it him that signed catalini and rogers to 5 years deals and big money only to see them go overseas - five year contracts took a chunk of the salary cap believe me.

ok so management wants to oversee his contract neg fair enough after that type of balls up they didn't stop him from selecting players he wanted.

i've heard from the horses mouths on at least two occassions of young guns who were told that they would not expect court time as rookies and they would be offered minimal money. Both are elsewhere starting or getting big minutes and earning more money why would they want to play here and be like hill anchored to the chair

sixers being sold...the administator etc would have been looking at getting the best under the conditions team together after all they were looking to sell the team, you have to make it look attractive to get more money.

Head out of the clouds Dana you, Nutwork and Yogee are about the only 3 on here that aren't blinkered at Phil, his I get paid, who cares attitude.

He might have won three premierships but in that time he's made this team/club a hostel for old and unwanted players where the rookies get less minutes than a man more than twice his age. I'd rather see Hill making mistakes than Copeland turning it over.

Phil Smyth & Steve Breheny no one else on their high paid salaries, their non accountability have decimated this club so that we can look to the future five years as re building years.

Geeezuzzzz!!!
Lindsay Gaze only won twice in 22 years, and didn't even qualify once over the time Phil has been coaching.
The 36ers have qualified every year he has been coach since 98 and have WON 3 times.
There is more than one team in the NBL trying to win you know!!!
I suppose you expect 36 ers to win every year??

"didn't even qualify once over the time Phil has been coaching."
In context, Phil has qualified every year but Lindsay missed out on the finals once during the same period.

Why don't you take some time to compare teasm/coaches on the team websites, and maybe you won't think Phil is such a loser.

Hhhhmmmm, I wonder if Phil is feeling the pressure?

Abraham Lincoln once said:
"You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time."

How true Phil, how true.

Thank God people who post on here are in the minority.

Tony - I dont have my head in the clouds at all.

I am being realistic in that after 4 games, I dont see the need to be all Chicken Little and convinced the sky is falling.

Lets analyse the season so far...

Singapore as a brand new team, sure some known players, but nerw stadium, new travel arrangements (Adelaide -> Singapore direct is 8 hours, the longest flight in the NBL schedule for the 36ers). Gordie McLeod coaching, and the 36ers and West Sydney had some thrilling games back when Gordie was coaching, because of how similair their teams are / were.

Then we fly back home, to fly to Wollongong the next day. No training time. We pull out a win, which sure at the time may have been helped by injury, but hey a win is a win. We fly back, get 1 days break in which to train to play Sydney. We lose that in a thriller, generated by some abolsutely amazing turnovers, which we are probably never going to witness again. We have a day in which to absorb that loss, recover, have a light training, and fly to Perth, in which we were handed our heads by the current undefeated league leaders (Perth are 3-0!)

Hence, I don't have my head in the clouds, I am being realistic in saying 1-4 given that isn't too bad, and 2-2 would have been a good result.

I personally dont have an opinion on if Phil is the right coach or not. I wait till the season is over to judge. I would admit I would want to see an improvement in the final season position, as we have been stagnant for the last 2 years.

As for recruiting, well there are many Newley fables going around the traps, but it is generally recognised and accepted that the 36ers really missed the boat on that one. I blame the previous incompetent management primarily for that, however Phil does have to take some blame.

As for Ingles, I still dont think anyone really knows the full story. He made an agreement he would come to the 36ers, then signed with the Dragons. The reasons why - who knows. Cant blame the money really, because rookies are restricted anyway. Maybe we were only offering rookie minimum, whereas Dragons were prepared to offer more within the scope of what they were allowed. From what I understand, and what I have seen, the Dragons set up is pretty awesome, and they shouldn;t have too many problems signing players when needed.

As to Phil signing veterans. Perhaps he knows he isn't that great on working with juniors. Work to your strengths, thats great. I would suggest now with KB on board, and with KB & Breheny running the Academy, that is possibly a factor they are trying to work on.

As for Brad Hill. His first season was awesome, and I loved everything he did. Last season he failed to impress more than what he did, and to me, failed to make the most of his oppurtunities. Before people howl me down, and ask what oppurtunities, it's not about whether you play 48, 32, 26 or 4 minutes, it's about what you do with your time, and I dont think Brad did enough with it. Then look at the Perth game, racked up 5 fouls HOW quick?? Ensured he sat on the pine for pretty mucht e rest of the game. Phil has also repeatedly said that players and stating 5's get picked based on how they train. Perhaps Hill isn't training as well as Ng??? Once again who knows.

At the end of the day, the 36ers are our team, and instead of back stabbing and bitching we should eb supporting our WHOLE team, getting right behind them and showing them that we support them through thick and thin. At the end of the season, if things haven't improved, well then maybe it's time to be looking.

However, I think with this being Smyth's last season of contract, coming back might not be on his agenda either. Consider this..if we lose Smyth we lose Breheney, arguablyt one of the best basketball minds around. We also run a HUGE risk of losing Maher as well...and the liklihood of Mee coming back without Smyth would be pretty low as well I would suspect, unless KB stays involved with the coaching.

'Gordie McLeod coaching, and the 36ers and West Sydney had some thrilling games back when Gordie was coaching, because of how similair their teams are / were.'

oh Yogee how you lack credibility with that statement.

Singapore is singapore different players only the coach is the same and they too have only been together a short while have had to get used to the humidity and the lifestyle away from home etc.

I almost choked on my dinner when i read you were comparing them because the coaches - maybe; possibly; could be down the line but after game one after all you are saying that this sixers team has yet to gell yet you say they are playing like all of Phil's other teams make your mind up is the cup half full or half empty?


Slingers should have been a win, first game, first time team, big time nerves etc. Maher, Nash, Ng, Hill, Sutton, Farley all know the training regime and know what is expected of them. AM, Horvath, Copeland and Wheeler all didn't come down with the last shower they should know how to fit into the game plan.

But wait that is the problem there is no game plan.Everyone panned Tigers for their shuffle offence but at least they had one. Lack of training time phooey. They are professional athletes they could have made it to a court for a shoot around.

Yes travel was horrendous but no different to sydney's there preparation was also held up by the world champs but they still beat us.

Turnovers, yes costly, time out anyone? how about not putting Maher under so much pressure. How about taking your time and regain your composure.

I tipped them to beat slingers but to lose to the hawks at home, we by all accounts get out of jail on that i don't want to see get out of jail wins i want to see us improve with each game.

Wildcats - shit we shouldn't have lost by 30 points to that team no matter how much travel and lack of training we've had. If your not going to win it keep the score down, what happens if we need to have the split on wildcats bloody hard with a 30 point loss.

Personally I wouldn't have KB coach the dome rats he'd break their spirit too.

Some interesting opinions. My comments and/or questions are :-

1. Just wondering is Dana your real name or is it Tammy?

2. Lets not get hung up on the BASA management issues again as Phil's defence. As Blair pointed out when he had control he signed 3 players (you forgot Brett) to huge no cut deals the year before the salary cap changes. That then hurt us for years.

3. Phil and Steve are a package as I undersand it. Why would you therefore suggest to sack Phil and keep Steve? Don't you think Phil listens to him now? MY view is Steve is probably pulling more strings anyway.

4. How many basic coaching mistakes does this guy need to make before others realise he can't coach. Use of time outs in particular.

5. Why do our good juniors not want to play for us or move after a year or two? Well I don't know ....but you can't keep loosing them and not serriously believe it has to do with their development, be that perceived or real.

6. No doubt he is a great speaker, promoter and very media savvy, doesn't mean he can coach.

Still I'll be supporting, fingers crossed and hoping for a good year. You see it's the TEAM I support not the coach.

My name is Dana. Who's Tammy?
If you listened to Talking Hoops tonight, you would have heard some 'informed' comments from Paul Bell about player signings, etc. given the status of the clubs ownership.
I wonder how the 36ers ever managed to win any championships at all without the expertise of all you brilliant coaches who post on this forum???

Dana, Tammy would be referring to Phil's girlfriend.

Tony Blair, any coach worth his salt would have wanted Cattalini & Rogers (MVP) signed to 5 year contracts, it was unfortunate they went to Europe.

What about Bradtke going to Europe & Markovich & Harvey & Gaze & Heal is that all Phil's fault aswell.

Nutwork, probably but they way they were signed and the contracts hurt us badly when they left.

"What about Bradtke going to Europe & Markovich & Harvey & Gaze & Heal is that all Phil's fault aswell."

Obviously not and if you were realistic as I'm sure you are it is a ludicious suggestion to say it is. When you need to defend Phil makes you make outlandish statements I figure you've lost the fight.

Fact is fact Maher, Catalini, Rogers signed for big dollars for five years. It helped cripple the sixers for years come.

Anon...don't tell me you have forgotten already about how the drop in salary cap combined with the big contracts given out the year before basically screwed us for the 2003-04 season. I wish I could forget that season...it was the worst in 36ers history. In reality, we were lucky it only cost us one season.

No one was upset at the time the contracts were signed. (I recall the 36ers sold more season tickets than ever after those signings). Did you slag off management then or do you have the benefit of hindsight? Did you know the salary cap was going to drop?

They have made some bad decisions but that one, in my view was not bad at the time. With the benefit of hindsight (Salary cap drop & players going to Europe) it was not very good.

Ive no idea why Adelaide signed off on that cap change.

Nutwork...No, at the time the contracts were signed I didn't know the salary cap would drop. But I do know that the Sixers put up zero protest to dropping the salary cap, which was extremely odd to say the least.

However, I do know this. I didn't need the benefit of years of hind sight to know signing those contracts was a bad idea. I didn't need to know about the salary cap dropping or players leaving the club for Europe in the near future. I knew at the end of the 1st quarter of the opening game of the season that we either recruited the wrong combination of very expensive players or we had the wrong very expensive coach for that particular combination of very expensive players.

It was a screw up on multiple levels.

"Anon...don't tell me you have forgotten already about how the drop in salary cap combined with the big contracts given out the year before basically screwed us for the 2003-04 season. I wish I could forget that season...it was the worst in 36ers history. In reality, we were lucky it only cost us one season."

Sorry that was me you were replying to.

Obviously I haven't forgotten that but Rogers left for Europe that very season freeing us of his hefty contract. That actually helped us (we signed Rychart in his place). So as it happened Rogers leaving for Europe didn't hurt us at all and in fact helped us, contrary to the claims above. It was the guys on large contracts who stuck around (i.e. Maher) that gave us no room to move in the salary cap.

I'm not for a moment criticising the signing of Maher. But it is a simple fact that his signing hurt us, Rogers' didn't because he left that very season the cap went down.

Understand?

There's no logic in saying signing Rogers for 5 years, and then him leaving after 1, hurt us.

I agree with the Doc. Could someone (tony B perhaps??) explain how these signings hurt us?

Surely you cant beleive that because Catt and PR exercised out clauses, we still had to pay them for the time they didnt serve? The only damage it did with the reduced salary cap (and Jasmine how do you KNOW the 36ers didnt fight it, were you at all the NBL Board and associated meetings?? No?? Then you are just GUESSING) was the fact Catt and PR stayed on for the next season, and therefore their larger than normal contracts did take up more space. However, the 36ers also got an exemption, from memory, to be able to pay those contracts outside of the cap.

Isn't it amazing the Smyth haters claim you cant use the championships as reasons for wanting to keep him around, saying it's time to move on, yet Smyth haters can use things like the salary cap reduction (which Phil had NO control over) and the contracts at the time.

"I dont have my head in the clouds at all."

Yogee, you have made some pretty ridiculous comments on this forum, but this one tops them all!

Ahh yes, some very astute debating points you raised there Cat.

Great to see you are trying to keep the debate on topic.

Great to see you dont bother reading any of my further omments, where I quite clearly stated I wanted to wait to seasons end before passing judgement.

But no, just take the oppurtunity to attack me and turn it into a personal thing. Typical.

Gee Yogee you can really be a sook sometimes ;)

Yogee

To be honest I could no longer be bothered debating or discussing any of your fiction. There is nothing else that can be said by me or others that hasn't been explained to you repeatedly. You are so far removed from the real world that if not for the comedic value I wouldn't bother reading anything you write anymore. But hey, keep on posting champ, if it makes you feel important.

Yogee, you said Breheny was arguably one of the best basketball brains around. How do you know? When has ever shown you his wisdom grasshopper?I've never heard him talk.

Phil didn't tell Phil to call a timeout. Why doesn't he take the first 30 seconds of the time out and then let Phil talk. I'm amazed they need to talk for 30 seconds with each other before they talk to the players.

Yogee, I believe that all clubs signed off on the salary cap changes. Wouldn't that preclude the necessity of us guessing?

Doctor E&The damage that Rogers leaving us was that taking his contract off the books did not take us below the new salary cap. Therefore we couldn't resign Rees. So we lost our starting and back up centre and had the infamous 'doughnut team.' We were able to recruit Dusty, but only after a long drawn out process in getting a special once off exemption from the league.

There was zero guarantee that we would have received the same exemption the following year. The fact that NBL gave the Sixers no aid in signing Derek Moore for the remainder of that season tells me they could well have been through in helping us out.

There were rumours at the time that even Charles Thomas' contract going off the books at the end of the season still wouldn't have put us under the salary cap. It was only when both Thomas & Cat left that we had the cash under the salary cap to bring Rees back and sign Farley and Cooper.

So the end result of Rogers leaving was that we lost Rees. While that doesn't sound all that bad, losing Rees damned us for the year. We were killed without a centre. There was speculation that since Dusty wasn't a centre that he wasn't the best recruit for us. However, I seem to remember that the exemption wasn't large and Dusty was the best player we could afford. If you remember, Dusty was known as a low cost import at the time. Not a bad one at that.

As I said in a previous post, it cost us one season (or at the very least was a key, central cause) and we were lucky it only cost us one. If Cat stayed, it probably would have cost us more.


Yogee&No I wasn't at the meeting, so I don't know if Sixers management had a big cry or not. All that matters is what they officially did, which I don't need to guess about.

I assume you are throwing me into the 'Smyth hater' category (which I don't consider myself to be just because I am currently being critical of him.) The fact that one might find multiple causes to problems doesn't show any form of contradiction. It's called complexity. You might also note that at no point have I blamed Smyth for our horrible 2003-04 season. The conversation has organically drifted off topic.

"So the end result of Rogers leaving was that we lost Rees."

Rees was already gone and that wouldn't have changed even if Rogers stayed.

The only repercussion from losing Rogers was that we could "only" replace him with Rychart. Was that such a big loss? I think it was a net loss but not a massive one. And players going to Europe is a fact of NBL life. One that you can't whinge about forever. It was 4 years ago and some still can't get over it.

I have plenty of issues with the way the 36ers have been coached, but I'll always remain comfortable that signing Rogers and Cattalini at the time was the right coaching move.

"I believe that all clubs signed off on the salary cap changes. Wouldn't that preclude the necessity of us guessing?"


From the mouth of the CEO at the time, Phil Sanders, the 36ers only supported it if there were allowances made for existing contracts.

In any circumstances it was a ridiculous ruling by the NBL, not the kind of decision you'd expect from a professionally run sporting organisation such as the NBL ;)

Oops, I mentioned you know who. I'll try again.



"I believe that all clubs signed off on the salary cap changes. Wouldn't that preclude the necessity of us guessing?"


From the mouth of the "boss" at the time, (he who shall remain nameless), the 36ers only supported it if there were allowances made for existing contracts.

In any circumstances it was a ridiculous ruling by the NBL, not the kind of decision you'd expect from a professionally run sporting organisation such as the NBL ;)

Doctor E...was Rees already gone?

As I said before, losing Rees doesn't sound like a big loss, but it had huge implications for the season. We had no centre and that cost us big time. Being able to sign to Dusty due to the exemption saved us from possibly finishing bottom of the ladder to finshing 8th. So I'm not saying getting Dusty was a bad thing (I love Dusty!) but there was a big gaping hole in our key way that Dusty couldn't fill.

I'm not whinging. I'm talking.

Doctor E...From memory, those allowances were that there would be no action taken against teams that because of pre-existing contracts were over the new cap but would have been under the old cap.

There was no league wide exemption regarding teams over the new cap being able to recruit new players. Hence why signing Dusty became such a saga.

Rees was forced to be let go as soon as the salary cap reduction happened, simply because he was out of contract and we couldn't fit him in under the lower cap.

Rogers left well after this, virtually on the eve of the season.

"I'm not whinging. I'm talking."

Fair enough.

"Doctor E...From memory, those allowances were that there would be no action taken against teams that because of pre-existing contracts were over the new cap but would have been under the old cap."

Yes. And they stood. What I'm talking about are further allowances not penalising teams who had existing contracts (i.e. if the cap was reduced by 30% then allow 30% of existing contracts to fall outside of the cap).

That's what the 36ers wanted. The NBL didn't allow for it.

I'm only going by what "he" said on radio at the time.

Doctor E...Yes, you are 100% correct about Rees.

So the end result of Rogers leaving was no centre. I may have taken the wrong road, but my arguement ended up in the same place.

Having no centre was the key reason to the Sixers being so horrible in 2003-04. However, since I argued in favour of complexity before, I also throw in a cronic underperforming Thomas and having only having the services of Maher on a part-time basis due to his family crisis.

It was crappy season and I'm done talking about it. I hope this season isn't that bad!

The sixers signed off on the salary cap drop under pressure from the NBL as they had three other teams waiting to pull out of the NBL and join and Asian league if it was not done.

Salary caps dont mean anything the are just stimulus for front office to get more creative with how they pay players.

The points cap was intrduced on the back of this to have some transparency in team loading.

We had Rillie coming off the bench in one team remember......now not a chnace that this 98 team would ever pass the points cap

Kent Brockman...It is impossible to know about the 98 team, but you could argue that based on the previous years performance of some of the players, it may well have fit under the points table.

Mee & Brooks would be 10 because of imports.

Maher & Davis would have had their totals diminished due to playing their whole careers with the 36ers. Davis was no longer the superstar he once was the year before either.

Rillie would have been high, but let's not forget that he didn't start to put up true star numbers until he left Adelaide.

Cat began putting up big numbers in 1998. The season before he was a quality player, but one coming off the bench and more of a role player.

Rees, Sapwell and Ninnis did nothing to season before to suggest a high point total.

Who knows.

As Kent said, and I was aware of at the time when I had a closer working relationship with the management team, that the 36ers were against the initial drop in the cap, because they knew how badly affected they would be, however they gained enough concessions to placate them, and the fact the league would have been decimated by at least 3 clubs threatening to quit the league if the drop didnt occur.

I dont think signing off on something under duress is the same as actually agreeing to it.

Yogee,

Is there anything that you don't know almighty one?

Yes, quite a lot.

Malcolm Blight and Phil Smyth have in common the fact they were good for a short period of time, then ran out of fresh , new ideas. The thing they don't have in common is that Blight realised it and did the right thing by his club.