I have never seen the Club in such a hole.
The problems we face largely centre around the seven. They form a block with a great deal of power. A block willing to put themselves before the club. Within this block are not only religious fundamentalists, but several young men who's very close friend has been convicted of a violent crime and some of those and others who were also very good friends with a young man who collapsed in front of them and died on the training field less than two years ago. If you ignore the boycott, this is still enough to suggest these young men need exceptional counselling to get them through their trauma.
Now let's add the boycott. This block refused to play in a game which was absolutely vital for our season. That's seven of our usual (bar the injured) starting 17. The remaining 10 were left to try their guts out with average reserve graders as well as front up to the press whenever the club required them to. There's no doubt looking at their performances that his is no longer a unified team. We have not won a game since. Not even close. Of the 10 who played, four are leaving at years end. So rather than 10 vs 7, it's now 6 vs 7. The boycotters have the numbers.
Regardless of the fault of marketing, how does Dessie fix this?
What other coach would want to come in to such a fractured group?
What player would want to join this very public mess?
Was it so bad that it sent Donnie over the edge (see someone's earlier post)?
What can a new CEO do to begin to repair?
Can the Penn family to anything but hinder?
Apart from the Northern Eagles, I can't recall a worse time.
The problems we face largely centre around the seven. They form a block with a great deal of power. A block willing to put themselves before the club. Within this block are not only religious fundamentalists, but several young men who's very close friend has been convicted of a violent crime and some of those and others who were also very good friends with a young man who collapsed in front of them and died on the training field less than two years ago. If you ignore the boycott, this is still enough to suggest these young men need exceptional counselling to get them through their trauma.
Now let's add the boycott. This block refused to play in a game which was absolutely vital for our season. That's seven of our usual (bar the injured) starting 17. The remaining 10 were left to try their guts out with average reserve graders as well as front up to the press whenever the club required them to. There's no doubt looking at their performances that his is no longer a unified team. We have not won a game since. Not even close. Of the 10 who played, four are leaving at years end. So rather than 10 vs 7, it's now 6 vs 7. The boycotters have the numbers.
Regardless of the fault of marketing, how does Dessie fix this?
What other coach would want to come in to such a fractured group?
What player would want to join this very public mess?
Was it so bad that it sent Donnie over the edge (see someone's earlier post)?
What can a new CEO do to begin to repair?
Can the Penn family to anything but hinder?
Apart from the Northern Eagles, I can't recall a worse time.
