Honest Assessment- Problems are above MOC.

[Tiger93]

A friend has sent me this. It’s bang on for me.

‘As the curtains close on any chance of us pinching some undeserved silverware this season (U18's excluded) I have been mulling over where the blame lies. Despite Luke pearce's diabolical one eyed decision making it is not with him, Is it with MOC who as head coach cannot get the superstar back line firing and even with the introduction of a proven forward coach couldn't improve the inaccuracies and poor decision making at key times. Is it the players? to a certain extent, some have stood up and performed week in week out, one or two just don't have the ability to make an impact at the highest level, what cannot be questioned is their commitment and passion for the side. They have fronted up and put bodies on the line but unfortunately still come up short .

Do we blame injuries to Marquee and senior players? certainly effected us over the winter but there was no such excuse last night.

So where now? Ged Glyn and to a lesser extent Simon Cohen. Over the last few years has the recruitment and retention of players and coaches been as professional as we should expect and are we playing with one hand tied behind our backs due to some poor transfer dealings?

So heres where i personally believe the blame lies, offloading a 'past it' Nikki Goneva and bringing in JP Peiterson, now that has really bitten us on the ass!. Opeti Fonua being deamed the solution at one point and currently the excellent Blind side flanker Kalamafoni playing out of position at 8. The failure to bring in a truely world class number 8. Missing out of various top end players due to the club undervaluing the players worth only for them to go elsewhere and continue to prove their class..

Is it the fact that we have paid out numerous amounts of compensation to offload RIchard Cockerill and then Aaran Mauger who was turning a corner, both of whom deserved better treatment after years of loyalty both as players and coaches of the club. not to mention losing the services of Phil Blake, promoting Richard Blaze before he was ready and Sacking Scott Hanson, MOC will have a very difficult appraisal coming his way but who recruited him, certainly Glyn and Cohen were keen to bring him a yes man, someone who knew his place, coaching the players that Glyn signs. Ignoring the recommendations of the independent scouting report that suggested Ackermann and Van Gran or Aaran Mauger whos overhaul of the structure left Glyn surplus to requirements.

What about the players offloaded mid contract, proving that a contract with Tigers is worthless. McCaffrey, Kitto, Slater, and of course the well documented Freddie Burns fiasco. all offloaded without mercy and now there is talk that they are also looking to offload Cillers and Mike Williams to free up some much needed funds.

The balance of the squad is all wrong at the moment, significant money has been spent on Journeymen and the injury prone, take Owen, Ryan, Pakalani and Voss, not massively expensive but poor value if not playing, a necessity due to the poor investment in the academy in years gone past leaving us with a major shortfall in home grown talent, this has been addressed and there are a number of potential superstars finally coming through the ranks. but most are another season away from becoming genuine top class premiership players.

Failure to manage the cap has meant losing players the Calibre of Logo, a player MOC was keen to keep or the great value Hamilton and Malouf as this appears the only way to allow MOC to continue to try and shape the squad to his requirements. Whilst the players and coaches as a group are undoubtedly tight there must be a us and them situation between squad and senior management, with players and coaches questioning the clubs 'family' ethos and who will be shown the door or offloaded next.

Players and Coaches have been mercilessly offloaded in the pursuit of success but in my opinion the root cause of our on field problems lie directly above MOC and his coaches and at the door of the Head of rugby operations, surely the board must act now to prevent another year of mediocrity next season! and allow the coaching team to build a genuine title challenging squad.’

[nasher]

I believe us "old" fans remember when tigers were a rugby club driven by playing winning rugby, today we are a sports business driven by money. As long as the money keeps rolling in mediocre or poor performance is accepted as the norm. The above post is bang on. We are the premierships leading team at 'side to side' rugby, until Bakewell appeared going forward was an anathema, the basic skills are neglected, it appears passing and catching come a long way behind selling more pasties and hospitality. Changes need to be made but as long as the cash rolls in the Board will do nothing.
A final rant, where did BY learn to box kick straight to the opposition time after time.Chalky White must be turning in his grave to see hard won possession continually kicked back to the opposition with unfailing accuracy?
There must be changes!

[RagingBull]

Still not sure what head of rugby operations mean.
Sounds like basically Director of Rugby without any of the media duties?

[Tiger93]

We have a well-established Premier League football club on our doorstep, why are links so iffy?

Also links with all the local clubs just don’t seem solid. We are allowing Wasps easy access to Hinckley for example?

There seems to be an air of arrogance about it all. Stand still and you will fall behind. That’s exactly what has happened over the past 6 years.

[jgriffin]

We have a well-established Premier League football club on our doorstep, why are links so iffy?

Also links with all the local clubs just don’t seem solid. We are allowing Wasps easy access to Hinckley for example?

There seems to be an air of arrogance about it all. Stand still and you will fall behind. That’s exactly what has happened over the past 6 years.

The BoD are entirely to blame for the whole farrago IMO, either by being complacent or failing to provide for the changes requested from below.

[strawclearer]

We have a well-established Premier League football club on our doorstep, why are links so iffy?

Also links with all the local clubs just don’t seem solid. We are allowing Wasps easy access to Hinckley for example?

There seems to be an air of arrogance about it all. Stand still and you will fall behind. That’s exactly what has happened over the past 6 years.

I think your "friend" has pretty much nailed it.

[JP14]

Your friend is more or less spot on Tiger93, but I’d like to point out that Voss isn’t a journeyman, probably takes up a ridiculous low percentage of the cap, has only just signed and hasn’t played yet due to the cancellation of the A League Fixture so I don’t see why he’s been singled out here.

Also I was for the dropping of Kitto and McAffrey, Slater is a difficult one we clearly lost one of our leaders but we did gain an incredibly fast winger who has since nailed his spot in the England XV. Letting Goneva go too is a difficult one as we now have May as well as Jonah Holmes and Olowofela who should be given plenty of chances next season (Oh :censored MOC will still be here so that’s going to happen ).

[BFG]

We have a well-established Premier League football club on our doorstep, why are links so iffy?

Also links with all the local clubs just don’t seem solid. We are allowing Wasps easy access to Hinckley for example?

There seems to be an air of arrogance about it all. Stand still and you will fall behind. That’s exactly what has happened over the past 6 years.

Hinckley had a good group of young players who went far in the National Cup in the 2014/15 season, unfortunately the senior coach at the time interfered in selection to try and showcase to Saints his favourite player who was in the local clique and cocked it all up.
Now every time the young clique comes on they go from being thirty points up to nearly losing.
Trying to get the best out of local talent is very difficult.
I once witnessed a community coach with instructions from his main employers to obtain video of a young prop playing for his local club, the community coach was also local to this club and under the wing of the senior coach did as he was told, he proceeded to film a scrum in the 77th minute after this young lad had been on all match, with an open side in the second row and a winger at flanker behind the young lad, and a prop just subbed on the other side of the front row playing for the first time that year who never attended training.
That was the only video that he took back to show.
I have a lot of sympathy for those trying to sort out the bull!

[Tiger93]

Hearing that Mafi has signed now but only at the expense of Mike Williams? Aren't exactly encouraging loyalty are we?

[Rugbyflanker]

Mafi for Williams is another mistake!

[Cardiff Tig]

What about the players offloaded mid contract, proving that a contract with Tigers is worthless. McCaffrey, Kitto, Slater, and of course the well documented Freddie Burns fiasco. all offloaded without mercy and now there is talk that they are also looking to offload Cillers and Mike Williams to free up some much needed funds.

The balance of the squad is all wrong at the moment, significant money has been spent on Journeymen and the injury prone, take Owen, Ryan, Pakalani and Voss, not massively expensive but poor value if not playing, a necessity due to the poor investment in the academy in years gone past leaving us with a major shortfall in home grown talent, this has been addressed and there are a number of potential superstars finally coming through the ranks. but most are another season away from becoming genuine top class premiership players.

Failure to manage the cap has meant losing players the Calibre of Logo, a player MOC was keen to keep or the great value Hamilton and Malouf as this appears the only way to allow MOC to continue to try and shape the squad to his requirements. Whilst the players and coaches as a group are undoubtedly tight there must be a us and them situation between squad and senior management, with players and coaches questioning the clubs 'family' ethos and who will be shown the door or offloaded next.

Which one is it? Is the balance of the squad wrong or should we keep players until the end of their contracts?

You can't have it both ways. Either MoC needs to be able to clear our players to get the right squad or we need to honour contracts and drop down the league.

And saying AM had turned a corner is a joke. We won a cup in a competition that takes place during international windows, it's nothing more than a development competition that we loaded with first-teamers last season. Compare the starting 15s of Exeter and Tigers for the final.

[Tiger93]

What about the players offloaded mid contract, proving that a contract with Tigers is worthless. McCaffrey, Kitto, Slater, and of course the well documented Freddie Burns fiasco. all offloaded without mercy and now there is talk that they are also looking to offload Cillers and Mike Williams to free up some much needed funds.

The balance of the squad is all wrong at the moment, significant money has been spent on Journeymen and the injury prone, take Owen, Ryan, Pakalani and Voss, not massively expensive but poor value if not playing, a necessity due to the poor investment in the academy in years gone past leaving us with a major shortfall in home grown talent, this has been addressed and there are a number of potential superstars finally coming through the ranks. but most are another season away from becoming genuine top class premiership players.

Failure to manage the cap has meant losing players the Calibre of Logo, a player MOC was keen to keep or the great value Hamilton and Malouf as this appears the only way to allow MOC to continue to try and shape the squad to his requirements. Whilst the players and coaches as a group are undoubtedly tight there must be a us and them situation between squad and senior management, with players and coaches questioning the clubs 'family' ethos and who will be shown the door or offloaded next.

Which one is it? Is the balance of the squad wrong or should we keep players until the end of their contracts? -

You can't have it both ways. Either MoC needs to be able to clear our players to get the right squad or we need to honour contracts and drop down the league.

And saying AM had turned a corner is a joke. We won a cup in a competition that takes place during international windows, it's nothing more than a development competition that we loaded with first-teamers last season. Compare the starting 15s of Exeter and Tigers for the final.

Im not saying we should keep players just for that sake but it hardly promotes the club in a good light if its fairly common that we sack them off/swap them/ditch them halfway through contracts?

[Ian Cant]

As I put on an earlier post: a meeting between the BOD, coaches, players etc must be held before any holidays. Glynn and Cohen really do have a lot to answer for:
1) poorest season for 14 years
2) poorest home form in the last 14 years
3) recruitment and retention unacceptable
4)coaches unable to learn lessons from painful defeats last season
5)lack of basic skills: lineout, maul, kicking game, ball retention, all poor
6)baffling lack of running lines from backs and forwards
7)poor results in the Development League
8)total lack of respect for very loyal support: eg fans’ emails not answered
9)shoddy running of the bars on match day and poor quality beer
10)communication between the club and supporters poor.
11)lack of interest in developing a Ladies ‘ team
I am sure there are more points!
I shall support Tigers home and away like many others but really am worried about the decline we have seen this year. I now begin to think a rich “ Sugar daddy/ mummy” wouldn’t be a bad thing as they would put both a business plan together and employ people who would put a thorough coaching/ playing structure for all the teams from Academy to First Team Squad into place
Will it happen? Doubt it. The press, national and local, The loyal fans and even some ex players can see what is needed. Shame the hierarchy at Tigers cannot.

[chewbacca]

Mafi for Williams is another mistake!

Worries me too. Yes he was really good first time with Tigers but was not at all impressive against us recently.

[JP14]

Basically Leicester can’t be asked to set up a Women’s team as they both support Lichfield & Loughborough, but surely Lichfield can still play at Welford Road without taking anything away from them, they can still be called Lichfield (London Irish play in Reading), surely Lichfield Women could play here and that will boost their application to the Premier 15s in future.