RHINO-MARK wrote:
To be fair i dont think its unrealistic expect/want us to maintain the foundations or blueprint that brought so much success.
Granted it doesnt always guarantee success but its a clear plan everyone can see & get behind.
Whilst I agree you would absolutely stick to a blueprint that brings success, it's not always that easy. As has been alluded to elsewhere on this thread, the rugby operation is just one part of the business and like any other business the priorities/demands change as times move on. I agree things could absolutely have been done differently to try and stop this slide. But then again, that's my outside view on this as I have absolutely no idea about the inner workings of the club or what is happening at boardroom level or what is happening at other clubs- IE, salaries offered to backroom teams elsewhere meaning we cannot/will not compete as we have other areas that need more immediate attention.
For me, we seem to be taking steps in the right direction RE recruitment. Yes there are grumbles about a couple of contract awards but when has that ever not been the case? Fingers crossed we continue with a recruitment drive and drip feed the youngsters in and head back to somewhere near the blueprint you mention.
What will be interesting is to see how things go on a corporate level during this "re-build" phase. Judging by the corporate car park before games at HQ, it's still doing decent business. On a superficial level, compare that car park and the value of the cars in there to that at other clubs and you can see there is probably a decent amount of money wondering around the various suites. How long they can maintain that whilst the product on the pitch is so poor is another question entirely which I think is why we will see a swing back to investment in the "rugby operation".
