Comings & Goings and the Coaching Carousel
By Rich Walker July 23 2002
Coaches, Directors of Rugby, whatever their title have been dropping like flies over the last few weeks. Rugby seems to be overtaking football in the "blame it all on the coach" attitude. But why?
By Rich Walker July 23 2002
Coaches, Directors of Rugby, whatever their title have been dropping like flies over the last few weeks. Rugby seems to be overtaking football in the "blame it all on the coach" attitude. But why?
It seems to me that the silly season has come early to our sport this year. We've had, for whatever its rights and wrongs, the nonsense of the Martin Johnson affair, there's the current debacle over ticket availability for the European Cup semi-final and most noticeably over recent weeks the great lurch towards a divball attitude to coaching appointments.
Rights and wrongs
Now I understand that opinions are divided amongst us about the rights and wrongs of the various changes. For myself it breaks down pretty much as follows: PSA leaving the Cherries - bad. Frankie Whineaar's overdue departure from Sorries (well eventually) - good. John Steele moving upstairs at Stains probably good. John Kingston's demotion at the Motley Fools - unfortunate, but for the best. Nigel Melville's departure from annoying buzzy things that are best stamped on - bad. JC's "constructive dismissal" from Barf - bad.
However, having given, for what it's worth, my opinion (not much I hear you cry!) what strikes me here is the number of good club servants who have fallen victim to short term dips in form and a lack of foresight by the entire management structures of various clubs over successive years.
Short term memories
I said early on in the season, when B**h & Wasps were vying for the honour of propping up the Premiership, that anyone who thought they were going to be relegated was fooling themselves. Both have too much class for that fate. What people seem to have forgotten is that these two outfits finished 2nd & 3rd last year. They haven't become bad teams overnight. Nor, I would argue, have their DoR's become bad ones. It all smacks of short term thinking to me.
As for the Saint @ Kingsholm his team are flying high and how many of his foreign legion will now stay beyond the season's end? What foresight there then? OK, so Steele looks a better DoR than coach anyway, Kingston has manifestly failed to get a talented Quins outfit, who finished last term strongly, functioning and Watford have underperformed (considering the magnitude of their investment in players) for several years. Pienaar had conspicuously failed to get his revolving door superstars to function as a team so I'm only surprised he survived so long.
For better and worse
I understand the argument that performance on the pitch affects gates (indeed Tom Walkinshaw was on the Beeb this morning saying as much) but owners have to understand that nothing is certain in the world of sport and that for every winner there is inevitably a loser. That's not an excuse for failure but more a reminder that these things are cyclical and that fans and owners alike need to remember that supporting a club is about keeping the faith in the bad times as well as in the good.
Every club is prone to dips in form especially if they invest heavily in a few players and leaves themselves short of strength in depth when the likes of Larry Dayglo and Tommy Castigate-the English get a long term injury. But responsibility for that lies wider than with the DoR alone.
Stick to what you know
When funds are short it may not be shrewdest move to invest heavily in infrastructure at the expense of the ability to perform on the pitch. We only have to look at divball and Leicester City for confirmation of that. What's more the coach doesn't cross the whitewash. It seems to me that certain owners have a rather inflated opinion of their own grasp of rugby matters.
To borrow again from poofball, I'm reminded of the blank page in a famous manager's autobiography entitled "What the average club chairman knows about football". Men like Walkinshaw, Brownsword, Wright & Wray have small room to bemoan the cost of their involvement. They all decided to throw their wallets at the fledgling professional set-up forcing up the price of players wages, now it's coming back to haunt them and they choose to blame everyone but themselves.
Expensive hobbies
Now is the time for them to bite the bullet and accept that this is no more than an expensive hobby. This is one lesson we can learn from the oiks' game. Let the DoR's and coaches run the sporting side and the business managers run the business side. Consistency and a sense of team spirit engendered from the top down to the bottom are essential in rugby.
If you undermine those values by dismissing or by forcing out a good club servant because of a short term down-turn you risk a complete break down of the sense of unity and camaraderie that a successful club requires. I think its time to remember the values which our game is founded on: loyalty, commitment, hard work, the ability to take the blows without complaining and the sure understanding that it's the process which a team of individuals goes through during a game, win or lose, that gives them and their club its identity. It might sound trite but it really is how you play that matters.
Merry-go-round
Finally, for every sacking and resignation there has to be an appointment. If Melville was such a failure at Wasps then what does that say for Walkinshaw's judgment in appointing him at Glaws? If his judgment is in question over the appointment of Melville what does that then say about his failure to retain PSA? This is where the merry-go-round is at its most insane. They can't all be right!
Who wants to offer me some odds then? Callard for Queens or for Sorries?
Date: 8/3/2002
Rights and wrongs
Now I understand that opinions are divided amongst us about the rights and wrongs of the various changes. For myself it breaks down pretty much as follows: PSA leaving the Cherries - bad. Frankie Whineaar's overdue departure from Sorries (well eventually) - good. John Steele moving upstairs at Stains probably good. John Kingston's demotion at the Motley Fools - unfortunate, but for the best. Nigel Melville's departure from annoying buzzy things that are best stamped on - bad. JC's "constructive dismissal" from Barf - bad.
However, having given, for what it's worth, my opinion (not much I hear you cry!) what strikes me here is the number of good club servants who have fallen victim to short term dips in form and a lack of foresight by the entire management structures of various clubs over successive years.
Short term memories
I said early on in the season, when B**h & Wasps were vying for the honour of propping up the Premiership, that anyone who thought they were going to be relegated was fooling themselves. Both have too much class for that fate. What people seem to have forgotten is that these two outfits finished 2nd & 3rd last year. They haven't become bad teams overnight. Nor, I would argue, have their DoR's become bad ones. It all smacks of short term thinking to me.
As for the Saint @ Kingsholm his team are flying high and how many of his foreign legion will now stay beyond the season's end? What foresight there then? OK, so Steele looks a better DoR than coach anyway, Kingston has manifestly failed to get a talented Quins outfit, who finished last term strongly, functioning and Watford have underperformed (considering the magnitude of their investment in players) for several years. Pienaar had conspicuously failed to get his revolving door superstars to function as a team so I'm only surprised he survived so long.
For better and worse
I understand the argument that performance on the pitch affects gates (indeed Tom Walkinshaw was on the Beeb this morning saying as much) but owners have to understand that nothing is certain in the world of sport and that for every winner there is inevitably a loser. That's not an excuse for failure but more a reminder that these things are cyclical and that fans and owners alike need to remember that supporting a club is about keeping the faith in the bad times as well as in the good.
Every club is prone to dips in form especially if they invest heavily in a few players and leaves themselves short of strength in depth when the likes of Larry Dayglo and Tommy Castigate-the English get a long term injury. But responsibility for that lies wider than with the DoR alone.
Stick to what you know
When funds are short it may not be shrewdest move to invest heavily in infrastructure at the expense of the ability to perform on the pitch. We only have to look at divball and Leicester City for confirmation of that. What's more the coach doesn't cross the whitewash. It seems to me that certain owners have a rather inflated opinion of their own grasp of rugby matters.
To borrow again from poofball, I'm reminded of the blank page in a famous manager's autobiography entitled "What the average club chairman knows about football". Men like Walkinshaw, Brownsword, Wright & Wray have small room to bemoan the cost of their involvement. They all decided to throw their wallets at the fledgling professional set-up forcing up the price of players wages, now it's coming back to haunt them and they choose to blame everyone but themselves.
Expensive hobbies
Now is the time for them to bite the bullet and accept that this is no more than an expensive hobby. This is one lesson we can learn from the oiks' game. Let the DoR's and coaches run the sporting side and the business managers run the business side. Consistency and a sense of team spirit engendered from the top down to the bottom are essential in rugby.
If you undermine those values by dismissing or by forcing out a good club servant because of a short term down-turn you risk a complete break down of the sense of unity and camaraderie that a successful club requires. I think its time to remember the values which our game is founded on: loyalty, commitment, hard work, the ability to take the blows without complaining and the sure understanding that it's the process which a team of individuals goes through during a game, win or lose, that gives them and their club its identity. It might sound trite but it really is how you play that matters.
Merry-go-round
Finally, for every sacking and resignation there has to be an appointment. If Melville was such a failure at Wasps then what does that say for Walkinshaw's judgment in appointing him at Glaws? If his judgment is in question over the appointment of Melville what does that then say about his failure to retain PSA? This is where the merry-go-round is at its most insane. They can't all be right!
Who wants to offer me some odds then? Callard for Queens or for Sorries?
Date: 8/3/2002
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
More Leicester Tigers headlines
Leicester Tigers latest threads
Leicester Tigers Poll
