Murphy must be given complete control at Tigers - Andy Goode
It’s taken long enough but now the ‘interim’ prefix has been removed from Geordan Murphy’s title at Leicester, he has to be given complete control in order to make Leicester competitive again.
A lot of people will question the timing of this announcement, given that Tigers are on their worst run of form for 43 years, and you can understand that point of view but I just think it’s an acknowledgement that the title should never have been left as interim for so long.
Making someone an interim head coach for a week or two is one thing but to leave it for over three months just raises question marks and also creates doubts in the players’ minds as to what’s going on.
Now he can tell players that they’ll be heading for the exit if they aren’t pulling their weight.
They’re missing Tom Youngs, who’s out with a knee injury at the moment, as he always puts his body on the line for the cause and sets the tone but too many other players just aren’t showing what it means to play for Leicester.
You just hope Murphy doesn’t have one hand tied behind his back while trying to do the job.
He has to have complete control of the environment in terms of the coaching setup, recruitment of players and everything that goes with that. There is a rugby committee at Leicester but Geordan has to have the authority to make decisions now.
Can you imagine Mark McCall being told who he can and can’t sign? It just doesn’t happen. If you’re going to be judged on the team’s performance and results, you need to be the one responsible for deciding on who you have coaching and playing underneath you.
George Ford said at the weekend that Leicester have been left behind by some other teams. He’s right and their recruitment in recent times has been abysmal.
A huge part of that recruitment has been on Ford himself though. There’s no doubting his ability on the front foot but his salary costs more than those of Freddie Burns and Owen Williams combined and that’s without the significant outlay to get him out of his contract at Bath.
The problems at Tigers go way beyond him and he shouldn’t be made a scapegoat in any way but his signing didn’t fit in with the transfer policy of the club and I do think it was a naïve bit of business and a panic signing.
The result is a massive imbalance in the squad and there just isn’t the squad depth or quality up front to furnish a backline that is brilliant on paper but hasn’t performed or had the platform to perform on the pitch.
Poor management off the field and recruitment have got Leicester into this position and Geordan has to be given the reins fully and he has to be ruthless in terms of the players he wants to move on, as well as bringing new faces in.
In terms of recruitment on the playing side, it takes three years to shape your own squad, though, and he will have to be given time and autonomy in order to correct the mistakes that have been made in recent years.
Jose Mourinho was sacked as manager of Manchester United on the same day that Geordan Murphy was confirmed as Leicester’s permanent head coach and they might be different sports but there are huge parallels between the two clubs.
Both are absolute behemoths of clubs that became accustomed to success but are now adjusting to a new reality. Both had real stability during their periods of domination, Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson and Leicester with Dean Richards and then Richard Cockerill.
Football is a completely different ball game and Mourinho did spend £400 million on players but he wasn’t allowed to bring in the central defenders he said he was promised in the summer and there has been strong criticism of the board at both Manchester United and Leicester Tigers.
As the top man you live and die by the sword and, as a result, you have to be able to make the key decisions. Geordan’s first one should be who comes in underneath him to help out with the defence, although interviews have already taken place and it remains to be seen whether it has been his choice.
The defensive issues were there under Matt O’Connor and it was made public that he was asked to bring in a new defence coach during the summer. That didn’t happen and it is finally happening now but the identity of the new face will be very interesting.
Dave Ellis, Brad Davis and Mike Ford are among the names that have been linked with the club.
The worst thing Leicester could do is hire Ford because he will want to be head coach and Geordan will always be looking over his shoulder because of what happened at Bath.
Ellis is coaching at Kenilworth RFC in Midlands 2 West (South) at the moment, so it’s hard to see that as an ambitious appointment, but I worked with Davis at Wasps and he would be a great choice.
Geordan has been at the club for 21 years. He was a teenager when he arrived and it isn’t possible to care more for a club than he does for Tigers. The players owe him some big performances in the coming weeks now to show that they’re behind him and that they can lift the dark cloud that’s hanging over the club at the moment.
It used to be a minimum requirement to win a trophy every year at Leicester and the bare minimum is still to finish in the top four. They are only six points off fourth place in the Premiership, so that remains a possibility but things have to change quickly.
Conversely, they are just three points off the bottom of the table. As someone who played at the club for 10 years, it isn’t nice to see where they’re at right now and Geordan acknowledged after the defeat at Bristol that relegation is something that has to be on their radar if they continue to play this poorly.
The beauty of the Premiership this season is that both the top four and relegation are possibilities heading into the New Year. It’s a case of better late than never in terms of this announcement and now everyone can start working towards ensuring that they’re moving closer to the former and further away from the latter.
It has been mismanagement off the field that has led to the downward spiral Leicester are in. It’s going to take a lot of time to get them back to top of English rugby and there’ll a bit of pain along the way I think but Geordan Murphy has to have complete control if he’s to get them there.
Comments on RugbyPass
I don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
24 Go to comments