Pundit and former St Helens player Jon Wilkin has argued that fan discontent and the ‘vitriol’, both online and on the terraces, ensured Paul Rowley’s early exit from the club.
In a shock announcement just a day before the derby, St Helens confirmed that Paul Rowley had left the club just 19 Super League games into a three-year contract with the ex-Salford boss lasting just nine months.
He left with St Helens sat in sixth place in Super League though Thursday night’s win for Hull KR saw the Robins move ahead of Saints, who slipped to seventh and face a fight to make the top six across their final eight games.
Saints remain the only club in Super League history to never miss out on the play-offs, a record that could tumble this year but Jon Wilkin still believes that fans of the club will be happy about Rowley’s exit despite all the uncertainty.
Speaking after Rovers’ win over Hull FC, Wilkin said on Sky Sports: “I think the fan base will be delighted because they’re the ones that have primarily created this situation with negativity on social media and online.
“The vitriol towards not only Paul Rowley but also Paul Wellens, who was previous to him, has probably seen the heads of two coaches go.”
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St Helens’ dwindling fans the ultimate cause behind Rowley exit, claims Wilkin
Like his predecessor Wellens, Rowley has copped plenty of stick despite an unprecedented injury crisis and whilst Wilkin admitted that he believed Rowley bore the brunt of fan upset, he conceded that things never quite clicked.
“The fans have been unhappy for some time now and Paul Rowley has felt the brunt of that,” the former Saints man said.
“I just felt that Paul, who we know very well, never really grasped what it was to coach St Helens. The language that he used from the first interview and that point onwards, it never felt like he was the St Helens coach and the team never looked like a St Helens team.”
Speaking more on fan discontent, Wilkin compared Saints’ to 13th-placed Hull FC, stating: “The fans, although they were near the top of the table, showed real frustration. The Catalans game, although they won, had 9,000 people there. Hull (FC) are second bottom in the table and we’ve just seen a giant attendance today and I think ultimately, that’s probably what triggered the decision for him to go.”
As for the derby, he argued that it shouldn’t make too much of a difference but could well fuel Matt Peet’s narrative about St Helens lacking identity, noting: “Matt Peet may focus on it as an extension of the discussion he was having about identity, the fact that they’re that lacking direction that they don’t know where they’re going.
“It’s sad when a coach loses his job but the writing has been on the wall since the very early days.”
Halo@78
July 24, 2026 at 5:46 pm
Talks a lot of rubbish Wilkin and he’s no different here. I’m a Saints fan 40 plus years and he most certainly does not speak for me when he talks about the “St Helens fans” wanting Rowley out. Most fans understand the poor recruitment and injury situation was more of an issue than Rowley. The level of discontent with the coach are nowhere near the levels when his mate Wellens was in charge.