Hornets story hits the Guardian
As the saga of Hornets' troubled situation rumbles on, Steve Kilgallon of The Guardian has attempted to untangle the details. The cast of... er... dozens... includes Bobbie Goulding, Martin Hall, Ray Taylor, 'eight or nine players', Nick Halafihi, David Howes and the now famous 'un-named backer'.
As always, we'll report more when we know more.
Goulding tipped for Rochdale job
Steve Kilgallon
Friday November 28, 2003
The erratic career of the former Great Britain scrum-half
Bobbie Goulding took another unlikely turn last night as he pondered an offer from troubled Rochdale
Hornets to take over as their player-coach. Goulding met the Rochdale board on Tuesday, and was offered a
choice of a one- or two-year deal. Goulding would replace Martin Hall, who chose not to renew his contract
this week after his failed bid to take over the club. Rochdale's chairman Ray Taylor yesterday criticised
Hall, claiming his consortium had placed unrealistic demands on the Rochdale board and had been used as a
smokescreen while Hall hunted for a job elsewhere. Taylor said Hall told him last Thursday that his takeover
plans had collapsed, only to revive them within hours and present Rochdale with a 24-hour ultimatum to accept
the proposals unequivocally, while refusing to name his backers or produce evidence of their financial support.
After some terse communiqu*s, Hall withdrew the bid on Sunday night. Hall, however, last night said Taylor
knew of the impending bid since November 4, and that Thursday's difficulties had been due to a major backer
temporarily withdrawing. Explaining the short time frame, he added: "Because there are only two contracted
players left, I had organised for eight or nine players to meet me on the Monday to let them know what offers we
could put on the table." But Taylor said Hall's CV was circulated to other clubs last week, and yesterday
Hull KR's chief executive Nick Halafihi confirmed that Hall's agent David Howes had phoned him last Thursday,
the day Rovers' coach Steve Linnane resigned, to express an interest. "I told Martin, 'I can't speak to you
until you have resigned from Rochdale', and I met him on Tuesday morning, the day he resigned, and had a chat
to him," Halafihi said. Last night Howes said he had fielded inquiries about Hall from Super League clubs in
the past but the Rovers job was the first for which Hall had "made himself available for interview". However,
Hall said his CV had gone to Rovers without his knowledge - and, anyway, he had been prepared to resign on
Thursday when he first felt his takeover might fail.
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