Loffreda speaks

[rufcut]

http://tinyurl.com/luf5hq
From Leics Mercury

Wonder what he has to say in those lectures?

reading between the lines it seems like he might be licking his wounds a bit...or perhaps that's what i'd be doing, nice to see he's still following results etc though.

[smalldell]

I wanted Loffreda to be given more time and have had to admit I was wrong to doubt Cockrill but the whole Loffreda incident still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.....I do not want to open up old wounds but hope we never treat anyone that way again.

I hope Loffreda gets back into Rugby soon...

[Gate]

I know what you mean. I guess, with hindsight and all, it had to happen, and Tigers do seem to work best with a Tiger at the helm, someone who has bought into the whole Tigers ethos like Cockers, so overall I can't say the board was wrong in the end. But he was such a nice bloke, and it was all very shabby and just felt wrong and unfair. I really hope he gets back into rugby and makes a real go of it, if that's what he wants.

[AndyF]

I really can't agree with that opinion. Loffreda was a coach unsuited to Tigers, the board took a brave but correct decision. His ability to lead the team was poor and his coaching style did not do us any favours. Do people not remeber the way we played in the two finals we got to??

[Longshanks]

As was shown again with Meyer, the Head Coach at Tigers is a very difficult job indeed to get right. What seems to be the case is that to secure the full support of the players, fans and management (in the professional era at least) the coach really needs to have played in Tigers colours himself.

[AndyF]

I feel that Meyers game plan was not suited to the premiership but as a coach so successful, capable and with a proven track record he maybe would have seen the errors in play he was making and done something to rectify them. Loffreda was different, he did not learn from his coaching mistakes.

[Outlander]

With regard to Meyer, I think I'd put it a bit differently.

My sense is that Meyer would have been very successful ... but only after an extensive period of breaking down the team as it was and rebuilding it to fit his vision. Short term, he was not the right person to maximize Tigers' achievement given its current assets. Long term, assuming he was given the chance to accumulate assets of a kind that fit his vision, he might well have been very successful.

Of course, it is not safe to assume that he would ever have the luxury of getting through short term lack of achievement to realize his vision.

As for Loffreda, I'll just say what I said probably too many times in the past.

He was not up to the job. And it is never right for ANYONE to leave a coach in place who is not up to the job. Bringing Loffreda back for another year would have been a horrible thing to do TO HIM!

The mistake was hiring him in the 1st place.

And actually, my above analysis suggests that hiring Meyer was also a mistake.

To change course significantly, one needs to lay the groundwork and prepare everyone for a change that might be very painful in the short term. That was not done in either case. Otherwise, one needs to pick a coach that fits the current nature of the team. I doubt that would have to be someone from the Tigers family, but it would have to be someone who could work with the strong Tigers culture as it currently exists.

[dailywaffle]

'Transitional' or 'rebuilding' years are not acceptable at Leicester, and as such it is clear that the appointments of both Loffreda and Meyer were mistakes. All said with the benefit of hindsight.

The removal of both, albeit under very different circumstances, was for the benefit of the club. Talk of Loffreda being treated shabbily completely misses the point, but I guess that debate has long since been done to death.

[Bill W]

Chalky White, Bob Dwyer, Dean Richards, John Wells, Marcello Lolfeda, Heyneke Meyer - were they treated shabbily?

I guess they were treated similarly to Pat Howard!

And Cocky will receive similar treatment.

[dailywaffle]

I'm not sure how you compare the departures of the aforementioned. The one commonality is that they all left, but the circumstances were often different.

I wonder, when is a firing not considered 'shabby' on here? Do we have a forum definition?

[Tyler]

We could always get an experienced director of rugby who demands success without the squad or backup plan in place,,,,,,,Dean Ryan perhaps? (no wonder Leon retired)

[Bill W]

I'm not sure how you compare the departures of the aforementioned. The one commonality is that they all left, but the circumstances were often different.

I wonder, when is a firing not considered 'shabby' on here? Do we have a forum definition?

Not sure we do daily. But then we are not party to the circumstances or financial arrangements that accompanied the departures either.

[G.K]

No doubt in my mind that whatever you think of Lofredda as a Coach that he was treated very badly by the Tigers Board who have yet to clearly explain and justify their actions, I guess they never will do that now.

I don't know about some of the earlier coaches as it was before my time but Dean Richards also seems to have been in a similar boat.

Don't see how you can include Wells or Howard in that boat though as both of them made it quite clear they wanted to move on.

[kevf]

can anyone hand on heart say the know 100% what went on in the boardroom for any of the coaches that have left under what we percieve as a cloud?

i don't and i doubt very much anyone else does....... apart from said coach and the board..

for all we know it may have been a premature end to the engagement but it could have all been mutual...

disappointed for the guy... but we are playing a professional game were only winning counts.... the board need to make decisions to keep the club (and business) of tigers at the top.