Dan’s Not the Man.

[solidarity]

Just confirmed from Ulster Rugby. Cunningham getting more responsibility.

That bit was weird. I don't get it.

Can we assume that this is just to the end of the season while a new team is put in place in the summer?

Hmmm.

[Cockatrice]

One could be forgiven for thinking that Gilroy was also possibly involved in the rumours of discontent in the dressing room.

I’d be interested to learn how much the little weasel trousered for the ten tries he scored in his last five seasons at Ulster.

If he hated Dan that much, or had any ambition, he could have fecked off instead of signing repeated contract extensions.

And as Cunningham is responsible for these numerous contract extensions yet how has he managed to stay under radar time and coach again

[RuPi]

Has to now SRU job is a busted flush.

There was talk he had got a role with the Scottish Sports Council rather than SRU? Hopefully on his way either way.

[TheBoat]

The stuff about Cunningham, what does it even mean? Such a load of waffley guff

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[CIMANFOREVER]

It's funny listening to all the rugby analysts/ex players/commentators all sharing their wisdom on the situation. Where was all this criticism when Dan was actually in the job?? Not one of them had the balls to speak up.

Ferris did to his credit.

Only after he read UAFC...

Gilroy got stuck in I see.... That was coming as he retired more or less because of DF as I understand.

Probably less because of DF and more because only Bangor wanted to sign him.

No doubt, but doesn't detract from the suspicion that there was an obvious recent external conduit/ leaky bucket. Leaving DF aside, there has been a long history of Ulster players influencing malignly or thinking they're bigger than the club. Case in point at the end of McCall era and some who subsequently departed for the Queen's shilling in the aftermath.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Just confirmed from Ulster Rugby. Cunningham getting more responsibility.

That bit was weird. I don't get it.

Can we assume that this is just to the end of the season while a new team is put in place in the summer?

Hmmm.

That's what I read from the statement

[CIMANFOREVER]

That’s actually a positive and shows leadership and hopefully clarity during a time of upheaval.

Or because there's a scapegoat to take the heat off the rest.
For me Petrie and Bryn still have to go as well, but the argument will be a period of stability rather than scorched earth. Tinkering at the edges

[CIMANFOREVER]

Gilroy must have had a heads up that Dan was on thin ice. As we hadn't heard anything from him before last weekend.

Aye, he was smirks and innuendo with Anscombe. At that stage I was glad it was breaking out publically but Gilroy has the snide about him tbh. Anscombe didn't miss and why would he, considering his da

[Dharper]

[quote=HammerTime post_id=735497 time=<a href="tel:1708543586">1708543586</a> user_id=1886]
Gilroy must have had a heads up that Dan was on thin ice. As we hadn't heard anything from him before last weekend.

Aye, he was smirks and innuendo with Anscombe. At that stage I was glad it was breaking out publically but Gilroy has the snide about him tbh. Anscombe didn't miss and why would he, considering his da
[/quote]

To be fair Anscombe inferred the backline attack was shocking….and he’d be right!
Gilroy was inferring the squad needed to be more “player lead” and a more relaxed atmosphere…..well they’ve now got the chance to put their money where their mouth is.

I hope the Irfu are compiling a review til end of season concerning all areas of operation at UR. Dan needed to leave, probably for himself too, but rightly there’s a few others need going out the door.

The Irfu have allowed this situation to occur over a very prolonged period of time.

[justinr73]

One could be forgiven for thinking that Gilroy was also possibly involved in the rumours of discontent in the dressing room.

I’d be interested to learn how much the little weasel trousered for the ten tries he scored in his last five seasons at Ulster.

If he hated Dan that much, or had any ambition, he could have fecked off instead of signing repeated contract extensions.

And as Cunningham is responsible for these numerous contract extensions yet how has he managed to stay under radar time and coach again

Because the IRFU rules on recruitment mean replacing such players from the market is nigh on impossible.

[UlsterNo9]

I wouldn't totally trash Dan's legacy. The first 3 seasons were pretty good, all things considered. Problem was not only an inability to kick on but serious regression.

I agree, in fact I think the first 3 years were excellent..

They were excellent.... he did start from a pretty low bar though, would have been hard not to hit an upward trajectory.

In the pro era only Anscombe and Solomons have better win percentages. I fear between now and end of season there will be more.

My hope is Humph in his new role will be looking at Ireland head coach succession planning. Farrell is fantastic but nothing lasts forever. IRFU have a track record of promoting from within.... its the hope that kills.

Failing that Richie Murphy Ireland U20 head coach would be my pick. His record is exceptional and he knows how to develop young players, something we've never had.

If Dan were to go now Murphy could get a free run from now to end of season, once U20 6N is out of the way.

This didn't age too badly...

[Amiga500]

Gilroy was inferring the squad needed to be more “player lead” and a more relaxed atmosphere…..well they’ve now got the chance to put their money where their mouth is.

When the players show signs of having a few brain cells on the pitch instead of repeatedly losing games from strong positions or not adapting to the game in front of them instead of the game they planned for - then they can reasonably expect to be involved in making decisions.

When they don't show signs of being insufficiently fit to get the job done, then they can reasonably expect a more relaxed atmosphere.

Far too many entitled prima-donnas that have done f8k all in the pro game to earn the status they think they should have.


There needs to be a massive cull, arguably nearly every single one of them and offer positions to any U-20 across the island and any young offcast from the Leinster academy. At least they'll all have seen what you need to do to win.

The cushy cafe clique needs broken - and BBC need to be told to ream players by name on a friday night when they aren't cutting it instead of making tom kite excuses.

[CIMANFOREVER]

[quote=HammerTime post_id=735497 time=<a href="tel:1708543586">1708543586</a> user_id=1886]
Gilroy must have had a heads up that Dan was on thin ice. As we hadn't heard anything from him before last weekend.

Aye, he was smirks and innuendo with Anscombe. At that stage I was glad it was breaking out publically but Gilroy has the snide about him tbh. Anscombe didn't miss and why would he, considering his da

To be fair Anscombe inferred the backline attack was shocking….and he’d be right!
Gilroy was inferring the squad needed to be more “player lead” and a more relaxed atmosphere…..well they’ve now got the chance to put their money where their mouth is.

I hope the Irfu are compiling a review til end of season concerning all areas of operation at UR. Dan needed to leave, probably for himself too, but rightly there’s a few others need going out the door.

The Irfu have allowed this situation to occur over a very prolonged period of time.
[/quote]

Agreed. I thought Anscombe was bang on & transparent.
The Gilroy stuff was what you would expect of someone who subscribed to a culture of mediocrity. Player lead is the lunatics taking over the asylum. There is a balance between player Leadership & necessary benign managerial dictatorship.

As I said earlier, Petrie and Bryn have presided over this- they should be next rather than an "enquiry" or think tank which smacks of " do f#ck all," in The Thick of It territory...If It has happen, it has to be independent and ruthless not a cover up.
Nor allow those above actors to hide behind the sacrifice thrown to the masses.
If there is internal toxicity, flush the culprit players as well if we can identify them, and blood some good cubs.

[Gerald the Mole]

Has to now SRU job is a busted flush.

No

[Columbo]

I think that this ‘player revolt / toxicity’ thing is a bit overblown. From what I’ve heard toxicity, to the extent there was any in camp, came from the top - and in fact I don’t really like that word although I’ve probably been guilty of using it in the past myself about McFarland / Ulster.

Others probably know more about this than I do, but what I’ve heard is that McF has always been hard-nosed and a bit of a disciplinarian - shouting at guys, sending them back to the changing rooms if they don’t do exactly what he says, stuff like that. Given the state Ulster were in when he came, a bit of discipline around the camp wasn’t a bad thing necessarily, and there was buy-in to the ‘fight for every inch’ stuff. Of the assistant coaches, what I heard is that Payne would have stood his ground, and tried to guard his territory, while McF walked over the others. When you’re winning this sort of stuff is no big deal, there are many ways to skin a cat, and while he was always a bit of a domineering character, it wasn’t much out of the ordinary for a rugby coach.

But whenever what you’re doing stops getting results, then the kind of bully-boy stuff which was previously tolerated can wear thin pretty quickly. And after Payne left it was the full-on Dan show - nobody doubts his work ethic and his response to things going wrong seemed to be to try to take more influence himself. Whatever happened last season it didn’t work, and on the pitch you can probably trace it down to the red card for Leinster, when Ulster just froze, then the nilling in Sale. Those were kind of shocking games to watch, even though we’d had some bad results before under Dan, something seemed to have caved in.

What I heard back then and over the next few months was that morale absolutely hit the floor, and the camp was just grim and chaotic. ‘Worst it’s ever been’ from a player who’d been there for years and seen plenty of chaos… Because it was such a brad pitt-show, some players did start to mouth off more openly - about things not working, complaining about not being given games, about needing to try different things. I don’t really want to name names, but Gilroy isn’t one that I heard, although I think he was disappointed not to get a contract extension. The guys who were most vocal were guys with not much left to lose anyway because their contracts were up, as I understand it. The fundamental problem though was that Dan was a control freak, had dominated the whole set-up and then when it stopped working and he didn’t seem to have any answers, he lost credibility and some authority - and everyone was miserable, so there was some chirping.

But to go from that to a ‘toxic player power’ problem is way OTT - in fact I would argue that there isn’t enough player power in Ulster’s squad in terms of leaders.