IDENTITY THEFT
As Tigers teeter, legend Richard Cockerill pins blame on the powers-that-be for loss of a culture at the club
LEICESTER are suffering from an identity crisis and the hierarchy must take responsibility, according to the man who masterminded the club’s last golden era before being sacked.
Richard Cockerill is preparing his Edinburgh team for a Heineken Champions Cup match against Munster on Saturday, while the Tigers find themselves in a relegation battle in the Gallagher Premiership.
The former England hooker is saddened by the demise of the club who were three-time league champions and a fixture in the play- offs during his decade in charge at Welford Road.
Following defeat at home by Northampton last Friday, Leicester are 10th in the table and just five points above bottom-placed Newcastle. Cockerill acknowledged their predicament is bleak and that novice coach Geordan Murphy requires urgent support — willing the Tigers board and leading officials to accept their share of blame for years of upheaval and decline.
‘The people who make the decisions around the coaching staff have made several decisions and we’re at this point,’ said Cockerill — the ‘we’ illustrating how he still feels a connection to Leicester.
‘When I left, we had never been out of the top four. We won the Premiership three times. Two and a half years later, they are in the bottom three and they’ve had three new head coaches since I left — Aaron Mauger, Matt O’Connor and now Murphy.
‘The people who are making those decisions are going to have to take responsibility. No one has said, “This is my fault”. Still. Someone has to take responsibility for where Leicester are at and what they’re going to do moving forward. Edinburgh are at the point they’re at now because (chief executive) Mark Dodson made a change in the coaching staff and brought people in to do a job. He takes responsibility for that because he is the boss.
‘Leicester are having a difficult time but they choose the direction they want to go in. The people that run the place need to make decisions and find a way out of the cul-de-sac, but there is too much self-interest in the club at the moment.’
The English rugby community are shocked that such a bastion of the domestic game has slid into the Premiership danger zone. After the defeat by the Saints, Murphy indicated that he remains positive, but there is now an urgent need to focus on the fight for survival.
Cockerill warned: ‘ No team’s too big to get relegated. It happened to Northampton, Bristol and Harlequins. Does it surprise me that Leicester have been dragged into it? Probably a bit.
‘They are better than a bottom three side, so something isn’t right. It doesn’t look a happy place, does it? There are some good players who are clearly not playing as well as they can.’
As a Leicester stalwart who ended up as director of rugby, Cockerill understood the culture of the place — and the need to stay true to it. He believes the Tigers are struggling because of a recent lack of clarity about their strategic direction and their identity — which were always founded on forward might, aggression and passion, a streetwise streak, a local core in the squad and long periods of home rule. Such earthy assets are fading memories.
‘It’s one of the things I’ve done here,’ he said. ‘When you watch Edinburgh play, we have an identity. We have a culture. If you talk about Edinburgh, you can describe what they are. If you talk about Leicester, what are they? They’re neither one thing nor another. That is worrying. They’ve got to decide what sort of club they want to be.’
Murphy has been given a daunting task. The ex-Ireland full-back is another Leicester stalwart, but he is a rookie head coach and was installed full-time after an unconvincing interim stint.
The Tigers board have backed him, but plans to recruit another senior coach to help have not led to any appointments. Cockerill suggested if Leicester’s hierarchy have faith in Murphy as head coach in the long term, they need to help him.
‘It’s a tough job and it can be a pretty lonely place,’ he said. ‘He cares a lot about the team, but with respect to Geordie — he is a good friend of mine — he doesn’t have experience of doing that at the highest level, so he is having to learn that on the job.
‘You have to have people around you who can help you with that. When things go pear-shaped, all your assistants start saying, “Well, that’s your decision, you have to sort that out”. And board members say, “Well, we’re paying you to sort that out”. It’s a hard gig.’
Despite his abrupt departure from Leicester in January 2017, Cockerill won’t rule out returning one day, but not yet.
‘You never say never, but there would have to be a huge amount of change,’ he said. ‘It won’t be any time soon.’