Question for those who want Cockers gone

[johnthegriff]

There seems to be many suggestions as to who should be our new coach, many of those suggested have little or no successful record of coaching in the Premiership or anywhere else.
Could I suggest two coaches who took charge of a demoralied team languishing in the lower half of the division. Their teams have consistently scored more tries and conceded fewer than any others in the Premiership. In the less than three years they have been in chargeC they have led their team to a Heineken Cup Final (losing narrowly) and three Premiership finals, (winning one and losing two all narrowly). They have worked within the constraints of the salary cap whilst coping with severe injury problems and at the same time introduced many new players to the club given opportunities to youngsters and improved them so that they became of international quality.
It would not cost a lot to recruit these guys, they are already here!

[Smudge]

The trouble is they have had more than long enough to prove themselves and still
we are no further on than three years ago. In fact we are going backwards.

Ask yourself if under these coaches we are going anywhere but another "also ran" position.
Do you seriously believe there are no decent coaches, anywhere in the world?
As for dishing previous outside coaches, it was Bob Dwyer who set up the club
for the great spell under Deano. Howard was an Aussie who we would have back tomorrow.
It was only Loffreda who was adjudged to have failed and he had a fraction
of the time that RC has had in charge.
As for RC being a good forwards coach, why are we unable to complete a driving maul
and why did we capitulate against Glaws having been ahead?
Journos all over the rugby world have the had same question on their sites.
What is wrong at Tigers????

[sam16111986]

Amazing !! 3 weeks ago Gibson would not have been mentioned in the Top 100 coaches to replace the current duo by anyone on this forum. Now he's decided he's leaving Crusaders we want him !!

I wanted him as backs coach back when Cockers was in line to take over. There were rumours in 2008 that he turned down the top job at Tigers in order to return home having been the backs coach at Glasgow.

Incidentally I don't think Cockers is the problem. The lack of penetration in the backs and a lack of a defence coach are our problem.

[Bill W (2)]

Incidentally I don't think Cockers is the problem. The lack of penetration in the backs and a lack of a defence coach are our problem.

Cockers is a splendid fellow. He selects the team. He calls the substitutions. He has decided he does not need any other coaches.

Ergo he is the problem.

[RWA]

The trouble is they have had more than long enough to prove themselves and still
we are no further on than three years ago. In fact we are going backwards.

Ask yourself if under these coaches we are going anywhere but another "also ran" position.
Do you seriously believe there are no decent coaches, anywhere in the world?
As for dishing previous outside coaches, it was Bob Dwyer who set up the club
for the great spell under Deano. Howard was an Aussie who we would have back tomorrow.
It was only Loffreda who was adjudged to have failed and he had a fraction
of the time that RC has had in charge.
As for RC being a good forwards coach, why are we unable to complete a driving maul
and why did we capitulate against Glaws having been ahead?
Journos all over the rugby world have the had same question on their sites.
What is wrong at Tigers????

We were ahead against Gloucester ? That real ale must have really hit me hard !

[RWA]

...oh, and nobody has come up with a decent replacement in my eyes so far. Johnson ? Healey ? ....come on please !

[Smudge]

Strangely enough, we have the ex England coach as a non executive director at
the club and he is one person the last England coach and Tigers legend, would
work under.

My preference is for a complete set of Kiwi Coaches.
As purely a matter of prudence, it is beyond belief that the board have not
identified several targets for the job.
Either if all goes titsup at Tigers, (or of course now).
You must know that we have contacts all over the rugby world and especially
in New Zealand.

NB My comment in the previous post should have read "when we had the numerical
advantage" rather than "when we were ahead" but then I think you knew that didn't you?

[Knightonian]

"An ex player does not always a manager make".

I think we probably do need to change the managerial set up if at the end of the season we still haven't moved forward.

Over the summer we have bought some flair Bowden, Goneva, Benjamin who could bring a new dimension to our back play - speed and flair. So maybe he has a plan B.

We also need to be realistic in the fact that there arent many managers out there who are available and could continue the Leicester way.

Just because they used to play for us doesn't mean they will be a good coach...they maybe one day but they need to learn how to coach and then how to manage.

Austin Healey would never work - to much ego, in the words of MJ he maybe a sh*t, but hes our little sh*t.
MJ needed time as a coach before becoming a manager
Chuter a) doesn't want it and b) come on....
Geordan Murphy could be an great coach (after he gets some experience)

I guess my point is that just because you played for tigers doesn't mean you can coach at this level and probably will mean you will play the old tigers way.

We need a new outlook to help us change our style of rugby and the chances of this coming from inside Welfare rd are unlikely.

If only Cockers had got that NZ life coach

[Smudge]

It is the closed season in New Zealand and Australia and the perfect time to recruit some decent coaches.
Anyone who knows NZ rugby will tell you there are heaps of decent coaches
down there . We don't have to wait for the All Blacks coach to be free.
The point about great players not certain to make good coaches is valid but
MJ was pushed to high too soon in my opinion, because the Rugby playing supporters
of England and Tigers love him for the legend he is.
I would certainly like to see him back at Leicester as the forwards coach.
He would bring far more than technical competence.
We certainly missed a trick when Kirwen was available.
One thing you can be sure of, the board will certainly have some irons in the fire, now.

[tigerburnie]

One thing you can be sure of, the board will certainly have some irons in the fire, now.

Would you care to share you source for such a statement, do you have some insider knowledge?

[TTRITH]

One thing you can be sure of, the board will certainly have some irons in the fire, now.

Would you care to share you source for such a statement, do you have some insider knowledge?

I would imagine the club are in contact with Daryl Gibson as well as other backs/head coaches as O'Connors contract is up at the end of the season.

[PM76]

One thing you can be sure of, the board will certainly have some irons in the fire, now.

Would you care to share you source for such a statement, do you have some insider knowledge?

I would imagine the club are in contact with Daryl Gibson as well as other backs/head coaches as O'Connors contract is up at the end of the season.

The board have been in contact with Gibson. Read into it what you want, people will disagree over the intentions but there is clearly a reason for it.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/ ... e-overseas



" Former Crusaders assistant coach Daryl Gibson is eyeing a move overseas.

English club Leicester have been among several northern hemisphere clubs that have contacted Gibson, after he resigned from the Crusaders last week.

Now 37, Gibson almost agreed to coach at Leicester, the club he represented between 2003 and 2007 as a player, in late 2008, but was attracted by the prospect of working with new head coach Todd Blackadder at the Crusaders.

"We have spoken but it has really been just a case of ‘Hey, what are you doing?"' Gibson said in reference to his communication with Leicester.

"There is no job, as such, available there because they already have their coaches in place.

"We have really just had an informal discussion at this point."

Gibson has a perfect opportunity to further his talks with Leicester next month.

The New Zealand Maori team, who will be coached by Jamie Joseph and Gibson, will play the first of their three matches against the Tigers at Leicester's Welford Road on November 14.

Leicester's strong fan-base has enabled them to be England's wealthiest club, and former international hooker Richard Cockerill is the director of rugby. Australian Matt O'Connor is the head coach, and has several assistants.

"I'm talking to a number of clubs and obviously I have had a life with Leicester in the past and that would be an easy shift for me and my family . . ." Gibson said.

"But this is probably the worst time to go looking for a job because most jobs [in the northern hemisphere] come up around April and May. Whatever opportunity we look at, it has to be right for me and my family. I don't want to be rash and rush into things."

Before linking with the Crusaders he had interviews with Leicester after head coach Marcelo Loffreda was sacked.

British media speculated Gibson would sign to work alongside Cockerill, but he opted to return to the Crusaders, the side he played 78 games for between 1996 and 2002.

"Yes, I was close to going there at the time - but it was ideal at the time to come back to New Zealand," Gibson said.

He has not discounted working in New Zealand next season. Although the five Super Rugby franchises have already appointed their coaching staff, potential exists to coach a provincial side.

"Obviously it operates at a different level from the Super Rugby competition but being a head coach of an ITM Cup team has plenty of appeal. It is a nice, short, competition." "

[TTRITH]

Not often my thoughts come to fruition!

[johnthegriff]

I don't know how long Smudge has been a supporter of Tigers but his memory is certainly strange.
It is true that Bob Dwyer prepared our club for the professional era but he destroyed the team, we started well under him but lost games because he replaced our kicker with his less good brother as he thought that John Liley should justify his place in the team on his open play. He dropped players like Rory Underwood, Deano and Austin Healey and replaced them with others not so good. We got to a Heineken Cup final and lost it and we were playing very poorly in the league. Deano made us a team again when Dwyer went off to Bristol where his team of stars, Conteponi, Pichot, Gibson, Julian White and others were relegated. Have him back? Never!
The Lofreda experiment failed because the man could not coach, Argentina have no professional rugby and his experience at the top level was with an extremely talented group of players plying their trade in the Northern Hemisphere who did not need him.
Heineken Meyer did not have time due to personal reasons but things were not exactly going well, the improvement when Cocker officially took over was marked and we have since won three trophies and come second in three others, no other coach in the Premiership has had that level of success and remember all work on the same budgets but Leicester are handicapped in that they supply more players to England. than other clubs

[Phil B]

Coaches are technical experts who understand the game and can devise a winning strategy.

Good Managers are leaders, capable of getting ordinary people to do extraordinary things. They motivate, they inspire, they create and they succeed.

Too many people who are technical experts have been placed in managerial roles, hence the fall-out of people like Dean Ryan, Brian Redpath etc.

It seems to me (humble opinion, of course) that Clubs often misunderstand the role they want their DOR, Head Coach, Manager (or whatever they call the Head Honcho) to play.