Matt O'Connor In...Mauger Out

[Hot_Charlie]

People need to recognise that dissatisfaction with the treatment of Mage does not have to mean you have to think O'Connor is the antichrist.

Hear hear. Well said.

[kelmat]

People need to recognise that dissatisfaction with the treatment of Mage does not have to mean you have to think O'Connor is the antichrist.

Personally, I see the merit in O'Connor being appointment. His last stint as head coach coincided with the last era of dominance for us, and his departure signaled the end of it. It makes sense - and if whispers that have got to me are right some senior players who were with the club at the time were supportive of the appointment.

However I can't get on board with the timing. I can't accept that it does anything else than destabilise us at a critical point of the season with top 4 on the line. We are still in that chase and winning all our games should mean we make it. Okay - you can say get O'Connor in to hit the ground running, but to do so is to write off a season that we're far from out of. Before anyone points the finger, I am led to believe this is not of Mauger or Cohen's doing. Not their decisions that forced it.

For my sins I now live in Northamptonshire, over the past few hours I have had quite a few txt's and emails from Saints fans laughing,taking the mick and generally having a good time over our latest situation. I must admit myself that I am not sure about the appointment of MOC, but hes here and he aint going anywhere else for a while!
Mauger is a very nice bloke, true, and i would have liked to see him have a go to the end of the season at least, but just because hes a good bloke does not mean he is a great coach. We have got to decide what we want, a winning team or the way we have been for the past 4 seasons, which to be honest at time s has been total dross, how we keep putting bums on seats is a testament to the support we have here at Tigers.
We are all allowed to have opinions, its those differences that make sport the great event it is, we can chat and argue all day long about the sport that we love, but now it is time to give someone else the chance to write another chapter in Tigers history, and if the board have to make two, three or four appointments before we get back to winning ways, then so be it.

We will have players leave, but we will have players join, it will be up to them to play for the jersey and remind us that all in all we are not a bad team to support....... You could all live in Northampton and............

[tigerburnie]

At least the board is being consistent, after years of folk on here criticising them for doing nothing and that they should have taken decisions with immediate effect, they have sacked two people at exactly the wrong time. I think if you look back on here you'll find that people have been demanding this sort of action for the past 3 or more years, then when it happens some moan, but others who were very vocal for sackings, seem to have now vanished.

[Maidman]

People need to recognise that dissatisfaction with the treatment of Mage does not have to mean you have to think O'Connor is the antichrist.

Personally, I see the merit in O'Connor being appointment. His last stint as head coach coincided with the last era of dominance for us, and his departure signaled the end of it. It makes sense - and if whispers that have got to me are right some senior players who were with the club at the time were supportive of the appointment.

However I can't get on board with the timing. I can't accept that it does anything else than destabilise us at a critical point of the season with top 4 on the line. We are still in that chase and winning all our games should mean we make it. Okay - you can say get O'Connor in to hit the ground running, but to do so is to write off a season that we're far from out of. Before anyone points the finger, I am led to believe this is not of Mauger or Cohen's doing. Not their decisions that forced it.

Curiously, I have some sympathy with the timing. I tend to be of the view that if something is inevitable bring it on. (Though clearly there are exceptions) Whilst not thrilled by MOC's appointment, I figure he is probably no less likely than AM to get us into the play-offs, and if the Board truly believe he is the future, and better than AM, then he may as well get started and get on with it. To be fair to the Board, they have acted decisively.

Like most people on here I will be easily won over by a set of good results. Let the recovery begin!

[kend]

There are a few press reports this morning talking about AM's disappointment at having to leave so promptly, and how he is devastated, and how he would have liked to have been able to stay until the end of the season.

Well that clears the speculation that is was Mauger who decided to go before the end of the season. I think you have to give the board and MoC the benefit of the doubt, he must have come through the selection process as the top candidate, but what I find astonishing the the way they have managed it. Having made the decision, the first thing you would do (in an extremely scarce skill environment) is act to protect your key assets; the players. To end up with a player of Veainu's importance tweeting like that is a failure of something.

It just doesn't seem to make any sense to do it this way; it has added risk into the run in and, unless he really is magic, MoC has no time to affect anything for this season. Surely the sensible way would have been to focus MoC on reviewing the setup and preparing for next season; keep Mauger on to complete this season. Perhaps offering incentives for top 6, top 4 and winning. That gives you time to explain the decision to the players and fans, avoids the new coach being associated with failure (which, let us be honest, is the most likely outcome) and just looks like a managed transition. You do have the outside possibility that Tigers 'do a city' and win the thing, which would give you a different set of problems. But presumably ones you would like to have.

[wormus]

I had little regard for Matt O'Connor when he was here before and found his language in company distasteful but the Board does have several ex players on the Playing Board so I will bide my time. Yes I have confidence in Mauger and I feel that he has been shafted with the end of season not so far away and I thank him for all his years at Tigers and his loyalty.
So we now go into another "Transition Spell!" having lost Paul Burke, Phil Blake, Scott Hansen, Richard Cockerill & Aaron Mauger.... I hope we can retain the services of Geordan as he has shown his team building with the Anglo Welsh success, Brett Deacon and Anthony Allen have really excelled + Boris too. I hope these are retained to develop the younger players.
A colleague texted me that the builders are in at the Oval Park making a bigger "Naughty Step" but I hope he is wrong and all players get behind Aaron this weekend and a 5 pointer v Saints will send thanks to Aaron and show MOC that all the squad are together.

[ourla]

My annoyance and anger is that we got rid of someone of Cockerill's high quality and appointed someone nowhere near as good. If you are going to replace someone, it needs to be an improvement, not a downgrade!

How do you know it's a downgrade? Are you not even going to wait and see. We gave Cockers 3.5 seasons of relative failure before we pulled the plug. Surely you'll give MOC at least a couple? Or have you made your mind up already?

My opinion is that he is a downgrade. I'm allowed that opinion. Just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean I can't say it. Obviously I will give him a chance as I will always support Tigers whoever is in charge but I'm not filled with confidence. Hopefully I will be proved wrong.

I didn't say you couldn't hold an opinion, I was questioning how you had formed it. You say you will give him a chance and yet you see him as a downgrade and have no confidence in him. And you have a record of intransigence on many issues so forgive me if I am expecting regular criticism from the word go and him not really given "a chance".

[Cagey Tiger]

As I said before, why are players on social media commenting on this ? Not very professional and I'm sure words have been said. We've just had a new boss at work. Change isn't great but you crack on with your job and if you don't like it, you move on. That's life, take it or leave it.

And as I thought before, but didn't comment at the time, I totally disagree with the first two sentences.

With the exception of TV, the rest of the comments that I have seen have been that AM was a good coach and they are sorry to see him go. No comments about his sacking. No criticism of the board. Nothing about MO'C (I failed the basic mindreading course so will not read anything into this or the praise for AM - unlike some) which could have been career limiting if negative. As such, I fail to see what is wrong with this. No different to signing someone's leaving card. Not unprofessional and definitely not requiring words to be said, IMHO.

[Iain]

Telusa will probably get his knuckles rapped for that tweet. I agree with him, but he shouldn't have made his thoughts public.

[Cagey Tiger]

Telusa will probably get his knuckles rapped for that tweet. I agree with him, but he shouldn't have made his thoughts public.

Agreed, although Southern Hemisphere folk tend to be blunter with their language than Brits.

[upandunder]

i have read all the comments on this subject so far with a mixture of emotions. To be honest I don't really care who got the job as I assume that the board have the best interests of the club at heart. Yes, we will all have our opinions as to who is best for the position and we should give whoever is appointed the opportunity of coaching this fine club to the success we all crave. I say fine club with a little hesitation because what i dislike intensely is the shabby way that AM has been treated in all this. Surely the board should have sat down with him and given their reason for not choosing him but ensuring he saw out the rest of the season. Whats the rush? Its an absolute disgrace that fans are not able to say thank you to him at the next/last home game. It would have been the least the club could have done. Its says a lot about our Chief Exec that there is yet again a total disregard for the fans who are the lifeblood of the club, he and the board are there to serve the fans not the other way round. Shame on you Mr Cohen and the Board.

[RagingBull]

See people say MOC style is out of date, but is it really?

Saracens play a similar style to what MOC wanted at Tigers IMO they just execute it to the very highest level.

Tough to say BUT Youngs and Ford know him and unlike Leinster and Reds he will be coming into a team that still has its first choice 10. (Sexton left before he came in and Cooper left before he came to Reds).

Whilst I didn't like his development style I hope he has learned from his stints at Leinster and Reds.

[Chobbsy]

I really sit and scratch my head AM has got the team going in the right direction (that is the direction I believe we all want it to go) He has the team playing like we want them to play so the club gets rid of him for someone who they had already gotten rid of previously

[RagingBull]

I really sit and scratch my head AM has got the team going in the right direction (that is the direction I believe we all want it to go) He has the team playing like we want them to play so the club gets rid of him for someone who they had already gotten rid of previously

Is this the right direction?

https://youtu.be/YJcKTSrMa_s

Or should we just be aiming to beat teams below top 6 and in the second cup?

[Chobbsy]

I really sit and scratch my head AM has got the team going in the right direction (that is the direction I believe we all want it to go) He has the team playing like we want them to play so the club gets rid of him for someone who they had already gotten rid of previously

Is this the right direction?

https://youtu.be/YJcKTSrMa_s

Or should we just be aiming to beat teams below top 6 and in the second cup?

Yes, it is better than losing to sides outside the top 6 and losing in a seconds cup, I didn't say we were there, I didn't even say we were nearly there, but in my very humble opinion we were at least slowly moving, again only my very humble opinion