Big Doug Christiansen Sacked!!

So at 4:30pm the news that shocked everyone involved with the Sheffield Steelers was announced and that was that Doug Christiansen had been released by the club.

I think its safe to say that its been a very inconsistent season and even though Doug wasn't expected to win anything this year but Tony Smith just wasn't happy with the team performances for week and lets be honest guys all season we have been miles away from where we should be despite the dominance of Belfast. Take the Belfast weekend for example and actually many other games there has been games where we have been so dominate and just haven't been able to find a way to score enough goals to win games and there is a lot of games that we've lost that we should have win, Maybe its his tactics? Maybe its his man management? but at the end of the day its a result driven business and when it matter we just haven't been getting the results. Yes were third in the league, Yes were in a challenge cup semi-final, Yes were in for a shout for the playoffs! But like I've already said so many times this season we haven't performed when it really matters and Tony Smith has had to make a decision that is best for the club to try and get them results and keep the fans happy! For example at the final buzzer last night I saw a fan go down near the bench to say something to Doug and all I caught of what he said is that it isn't good enough. Does this gentleman have a point? Tony Smith seems to think he does.

In an Interview on BBC Sheffield at 5:20pm Tony said that the decision wasn't taken after later nights result and that he hasn't been happy with the team performances for weeks and then he spoke about how its a result driven business and he has to keep the fans happy because just like in any sport the fans come first, He said he didn't have anyone in mind as an immediate replacement but there had been several applicants within the hour of the news being released. Tony Smith said that when he appointed Doug back in April he thought he was the right man to take us forward and now were in February he believes that he made the wrong decision and admits that and he also said that him and Doug sat down during the afternoon and spoke about the decision and Tony said he is doing what he thinks is best for the Steelers. Tony also spoke about how he wants to get fans back in the building and at the moment the teams just are not playing the type of hockey that will attract fans to games to get attendances back up.

There has been mixed reactions on this decision today especially on social media like twitter for example and I've got a few peoples opinions on the decision as well a tweet by Shaun Smith that I'm going to quote which was very interesting:-

Shaun Smith @Smith_S08 wrote:

Interesting responses to release of Doug. Deep down this should have come sooner. Nice guy but not for Steelers #truth

Andrew Gibson @Steelergibbo wrote:

Doug was just the wrong man for the job. Tony has admitted he made a mistake. right decision for me. now it's time to move on

Diane Sockeet @Bigd173 wrote:

Why did smith not sack him sooner if he was not happy. At least we may have had a chance of CC. Now what!!

Dorian Franklin @dozfranklin wrote:

Timing is right if you think of saving PlayOff's after losing CC Semi Final like we did #DifferentView

Kirky Steeler @KirkyS12 wrote:

Things were not right, better to make a decision now than carry on when you know what the problem is Shaun Smiths tweets are revealing.

Tom Duroe @TommyLee_93 wrote:

DC sacking in my opinion, wrong move and bad timing. Players fault for not turning up not his. Now we have no coaching staff leading up to 2nd leg of cc semi final. It's a joke, This organisation is a laughing stock, If he was disappointed with DC why not let him go earlier instead of this late. And personally deserved at least a year

And the final one was wrote by Joe Hattersley @JoeHattersley in which I think was the best tweet of the day:

Whether you agree with the sacking or not. Tony Smith has got to be applauded for having the balls to do this. As he says the fans come first.

Captain Steven Goertzen is in temporary charge while the Steelers look for a replacement for Doug Christiansen and I would like to put on record my thanks to DC for his effort and commitment to the Sheffield Steelers, it is just one of them things that didn't work out and I want to wish him all the best for his future coaching roles and especially with Great Britain.

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Keep Supporting The Boys!!

Tom