Why Tigers are facing drop If Leicester go down, it will be fall of spectacular proportions
The Tigers were once an example of stability, but their high turnover of staff suggests problems
It is a question asked more in football than rugby: are this club too good/big to go down? As a former Nottingham player of many years, living in the shadow of the behemoth that is the Leicester Tigers, I thought that I would consider this question with some alacrity, but not so. That there is a real prospect of relegation to English rugby’s Championship is one of concern.
The loss of such a big name, with an average attendance approaching 23,000 and a ground that is a true rugby stadium, will not be welcomed by Premiership Rugby nor its broadcast partner, BT Sport. Of course, there will be some schadenfreude from fans of other clubs and no team have the right to automatic tenure at domestic rugby’s top table. Yet even to have to consider this possibility is an unusual and uncomfortable feeling because it could happen at any club.
So how has it come to this, at what was once a club against which others were measured in terms of stability, both on and off the field? Tigers’ fans have pointed at many issues and there is validity in most of them but the difficult, yet essential, conundrum is which are root causes and which de minimis.
Whenever you see a high turnover of staff at all levels you know something is wrong. Over the past six years Tigers have had a much higher than usual churn of players and coaches, and significantly more than the clubs they would consider to be of similar stature.
As any manager or coach will tell you, the quality of players you select is paramount. You can be the best coach and make players better, but you will always do better with good quality players. If you look at the number of players in and out of Leicester over the past six years you see about 70 in and more than 100 out. Nearly 40 players signed and left within a five-year period. Compare that to Exeter and Saracens, who have signed about 40 players each over the same period.
Over the past six years Tigers have had a much higher than usual churn of players and coaches
Of the players recruited, you would do well to name more than a handful unless you are an ardent Tigers follower because the truth is they have not been good enough.
It is not just the lack of marquee signings, which always come with negatives as well as positives, given their limited availability due to internationals call-ups. It is arguably more important to have a raft of players who are near international standard but gain only a few caps.
These players form the nucleus of the team who will feature all season and on whom the club can rely for a base level of performance. Leicester used to have this sort of player in abundance, but this nucleus has been unreliable for several seasons.
A solid squad of good professional players should guarantee a mid-table finish, with your international players propelling you to a play-off position. This time round, the Tigers have found both the base and the topping underperforming.
You might cope with all this if you have a clear coaching strategy but, in the past three years, Tigers have had four head coaches and inexplicable absentees in unit and support coaches. With a reliable backroom staff you might get away with changing the head man more often or vice versa – you cannot fail in both areas.
The players and coaches must take their share of responsibility for the club’s plight. They have better quality players in their first XV than the clubs they are battling with to stay up.
Their back line is significantly better but the game is usually decided up front, and the back five of their pack is arguably only comparable to their opponents.
The last five games for Leicester, Bristol, Newcastle and Worcester offer no significant advantage to any of the four clubs, though Tigers at least have three home games, including one against Bristol which could be seminal.
As the men in overall charge, Peter Toms, Simon Cohen and Ged Glynn must shoulder ultimate responsibility for whatever happens at the end of the season. It brings me no pleasure to criticise the current board, who have tried to bring concurrent improvements in the stadium and squad.
Cohen, in particular, I know to be a conscientious and intelligent man, but the overriding onus on any board is to ensure the team’s performance; all else is secondary.
If Leicester do go down, it will be a fall of spectacular proportions and an avoidable one at that. Mind you, the current majority for ring-fencing the Premiership might be reduced by one vote.