End of the road for Dan??

[Columbo]

Loads of negative sentiment after the way things have fallen apart - are we actually in an end-game situation? Or is that premature and knee jerk, and Dan’s the man to turn the ship around?

I have to say I’m now in the former camp - after several years of incremental improvement, we’ve seen a wholesale collapse, and I’m not seeing any evidence that anyone, including Dan, has much of an idea how to stop the rot. And yes of course the players have to shoulder their share of responsibility, but I’m not a fan of a head coach engaging in finger-pointing and blame-shifting - reminds me of the straw that broke the camels back for Dean Ryan at Dragons..

And for all that I think overall he has done a great job at ulster, and by last season had us competitive with any side in Europe IMO, there have been some recurring problems which were never solved - questions about Ulster’s collective bottle and game management in clutch situations which have consistently undermined us for years, poor inter pro record, poor recruitment. Not all Dan’s fault but the buck stops with him.

If it is the end of the road, what’s the likely exit? It’s not the IRFU style to sack someone summarily - they tend to nudge you towards the exit and agree a release.. there’s probably a job going at Leicester as I’ve seen KOTH mention, might that be a plan? How longs left on his contract? The IRFU are already recruiting for Connacht, so they’ll have a good handle on who’s out there..

[Dave]

Yes.

[Columbo]

Yes.

I’m just surprised you read all that!

[Dave]

Yes.

I’m just surprised you read all that!

Only read the title

[justinr73]

Dan is under contract until 2025.

[Jetstream]

If you sack Dan you cannot ignore Bryn and Bell. Bryn for the load of rubbish he has signed and Bell for our crappie defence. A clearout of players also needed.
The whole game changed when Milsanovich came on and lay down in a heap at the first scrum.
Milsanovich, Jones, Matty Rea, O'Sullivan, Burns, Gilroy should all be guided out the door. Others are in the last chance saloon.
It is also about time that some of our younger players realised that they are not Billy Big Balls. A good kick up the jacksey would do them the world of good.
P.S. What does our skills coach do?

[Dave]

Just clean house. Even Ethel's tea has been stinking recently.

[solidarity]

P.S. What does our skills coach do?

For me that's one of three big questions.

The other two are:
Do we actually have any really workable systems in both atack and defence?
How do we develop enough bottle to play every game for the full 80 mins?

[Ethel]

Just clean house. Even Ethel's tea has been stinking recently.

I haven’t gone away ya know , had a change of jobs since the Colonel left but I still pop into the office to see the girls, All a bit spicey in HQ at the moment. Dan the Man not so popular, poor poor Jonny should have stuck to renting out houses, rumour has it Bryn , was told that a fence needed fixed and since it was one owned by Jonny it some how came changed to Jonny defence coach , not Jonny fix de fence .

Oh , also reactivated those awful bugs, while I was in .

They use cheap English tea bags now

[Dave]

The forum is getting spicy now. People are logging back into their burner accounts.

[solidarity]

Just clean house. Even Ethel's tea has been stinking recently.

I haven’t gone away ya know , had a change of jobs since the Colonel left but I still pop into the office to see the girls, All a bit spicey in HQ at the moment. Dan the Man not so popular, poor poor Jonny should have stuck to renting out houses, rumour has it Bryn , was told that a fence needed fixed and since it was one owned by Jonny it some how came changed to Jonny defence coach , not Jonny fix de fence .

Oh , also reactivated those awful bugs, while I was in .

They use cheap English tea bags now

Probably a couple of things in there that made sense to me... possibly... maybe.

[BR]

I'm not convinced it is the overall coaching that is the problem. On field leadership and decision making is the bigger problem (while I accept that a degree of that has come from the coaching).

We need a serious leader on the pitch - a Muller type of leader.

I do have some concerns about the defensive systems, but a Shaun Edwards system will leak like a sieve, if the players on the pitch believe tackling is optional like on Sunday.

If however, it transpires that McFarland has given the team strict instructions that they should box-kick the ball away to the opposition in our own half, during the closing stages while protecting a narrow lead - then yes - he can feck off.

[jean valjean]

Holding possession in your own half with minutes to go trying to defend a 2 point lead is stupid. Especially when against a team with better poachers and an inability to set up rucks beyond the gainline. Instead of box kicking we needed to kick long to their 22 and defend from their 22/10m line. As we don't have a kicking out half we resort to box kicks which don't go as far and put us immediately under pressure. Dan should have backed doak to come on at 10 and kick for territory. Taking off stockdale ( the other big boot) was also a mistake.

[Bobbievee]

Dan out!
Jean in!

[Bobbievee]

But when protecting a 5 point leas?