The club have shown an inability to develop from the academy for many years and an inability to sign quality players and coaches from other clubs. So the two main elements of a successful team Leeds have shown no skill in achieving - why does anyone think this will improve. When was the last time Leeds produced a half back, FB or hooker of quality through the academy? Jack Walker?

One of my biggest disappointment's from the last decade was the wasted talent of Josh Sunley, what a player he could have been.

Maybe Wilkin posts on this site under various guises. That would certainly explain the complete loathing some show for the club. While I would say that we have strong competition for the biggest flops (Hudds, Hull and even Wire given the money they spent) the sheer size and resultant expectation of Leeds makes yet another year outside the top four seem like huge failure. There have been mitigating factors but next year there will be none.

The problem is that many fans are feeling the cumulative effects of years of promises and false dawns. Outside the top 4 wouldn't be awful in one year, but this is the longest run since the 1950s, and right now it feels like next year won't be much better. We'll have to wait until the end of the season for more player announcements, but I don't think there's a huge amount of faith that we'll get the right players in.

Regardless of who comes in as you say there can be no more excuses. If we start badly I really can't see Smith surviving even if we do have some big name additions. The amount of goodwill that's been chewed up this year is astonishing.

Don’t know if you’re on twitter but theres a section of fans who seem to absolutely despise everything about the club!

Agree about next year

Well, for a while it seemed as if Richard Agar was steering us out of transition, until the start of 2022, which seemed like yet another false dawn.

With Agar leaving, JJB and Long taking charge, and the club looking like relegation contenders, Smith's arrival effectively meant the start of a new transition. Remember the statements put out by GH at the time - they were looking to build something longer term over the duration of Smith's contract. He was not coming with the expectation of winning silverware within 1-2 years.

The amazing run to the GF at the end of 2022 showed the potential of Smith and the playing group at the time, but we also had a bit of luck going for us (although not much before that in the season, so these things can balance out!).

At this point a number of things went wrong. We didn't invest enough to improve the squad - largely because of players on big contracts from the Agar/Sinfield era. It may have been much better if say Sezer lived up to the club's expectations, and we didn't lose further players later on in the year. In hindsight we needed to keep Hardaker and sign MacDonald.

I don't know what happened in the pre-season, but it was clear that Smith didn't see much value in testing the squad in pre-season friendlies, and it seems we were undercooked in round 1. Obviously there's a danger in coming out of the traps too fast as Warrington did, but as bad as they have been they have managed to hold on to a higher league position.

During the season there should have been more foresight and better man-management regarding retention decisions over the current squad. This caused far too much disruption to the first team - I can't remember a season as bad as this since 1996 (which admittedly was far worse!).

Coaches all have their idiosyncracies. Smith's insistence on tactics like the passive defence, short kick-offs, and odd positional switches have not proven to work in the long-term (or ever). The passive defence may have its place in some circumstances during a game, especially in the summer heat, and perhaps if we are confident that the team is connected enough to defend the line when needed. But I agree it was naive of Smith to think this would carry on working at the start of the season in the winter when games are tighter and more about field position and possession. The signs are that he is learning but increasingly lacks the players to use tactics in which Leeds can better impose themselves on the opposition or the scoreboard...

On a positive note, Smith has been more willing than Agar and Brian Mac to pick younger players, and we know that the four interchange players will all probably get on the field at some point

It is I, Leclerc…

and I will say this only once....

Let's not get into fallen Madonna territory.

You mean the one with the....