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#Post#: 57601--------------------------------------------------
Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: Nico Wilson
Date: January 26, 2021, 9:39 am
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--- Quote ---
>
>
> Paul Gustard revealed his next move on Tuesday, penning a
three-year assistant coach deal at Italian club Benetton, but
the dust is still only settling on his sudden exit with
immediate effect from Harlequins last Wednesday. Having joined
the Londoners in 2018 after serving under Eddie Jones as England
defence coach, Gustard’s existing deal was up for renewal.
>
> However, in contrast to the headlines which last week
suggested Gustard had been sacked, it has now emerged that he
had been offered a contract extension and negotiations
apparently soured after senior players allegedly held secret
meetings with club CEO Laurie Dalrymple
>
> Gustard, who spoke candidly to RugbyPass in September 2019
about what his targets were at Harlequins, was immediately
linked with Wales and elsewhere as soon as he exited The Stoop
last week with Harlequins sitting in seventh spot in the
Gallagher Premiership, but Italy will be his next destination
and it will be interesting what impact his departure will now
have on the London club.
>
> “It’s a strange one,” said ex-England international Andy Goode
when addressing the fallout at Harlequins on the latest episode
of The Rugby Pod. “When Gussy [Gustard] took over, Quins were in
a really bad place. They were tenth in the league or something.
>
> “He has taken over, got them up to fifth in the first year and
sixth in the second year, got them to a final [Premiership Cup].
It looked like progression. There needed to be some sort of
broom taken through that club to get rid of some of the older
players and a coach like Gussy needed time for that.
>
> “People are looking at this as ‘Paul Gustard sacked by
Harlequins’. That’s the kind of headlines that have come out.
But doing my research and speaking to some of my sources, Gussy
was offered a contract extension by Harlequins that he wasn’t
happy signing.
>
> “They had put a contract on the table. His contract was
running out at the end of the season, he hadn’t signed it
because wanted a few things to change at the club. When some
players got wind that Gussy hadn’t signed his deal yet, they had
clandestine meetings with the CEO Laurie Dalrymple. They kind of
said, ‘Gussy is trying to change things etc, etc’.
>
> “From what I am hearing they got wind of Gussy not signing his
contract yet and they ushered it along and forced the situation
where Gussy has now got somewhere else he wants to go to. They
realised that if he wasn’t going to sign his contract some of
the players started voicing their opinions because they didn’t
think he would be there in the long run and they just got rid of
him and cut ties pretty quickly.”
>
> Delving further into the break-up, Goode added that an
interview released by the club with Dalrymple left him confused.
“What I struggle with, and this is Quins down to a tee for me,
they won the league in 2012 and people have got this impression
of Quins, their culture, who knows what their culture is unless
you have been in there?
>
> “But the CEO has come out and said, ‘Individuals suit certain
environments and the club has taken time to reflect on the way
that they want to live and operate and create the identity and
culture that is reflective of us as a club’ and they say Paul
Gustard doesn’t suit that.
>
> “What is Quins’ culture because Gussy was trying to change
from the old to the new club and I don’t get what their culture
is? What do they think they have got, a winning mentality? They
have won nothing, they have won one league.
>
> “What Gussy has done is he has improved that club. He took the
club forward but there is people at that club holding them back.
Sometimes you have got to move on, you have got to have a fresh
broom. Look at Toulouse.
>
> “They had a load of old players, the coach took a broom, got
rid of some of the old boys and brought in some of the young
lads, which Gussy was trying to do. Toulouse, a few years down
the track, win the Top 14 and effectively rugby and sport is
cyclical, so you have to regenerate your squad.
>
> “Leicester for years had the best squad and were always in the
finals and then they changed their whole emphasis around
recruitment and have been s*** for years. There is a lot of time
when you are DoR where you need to be given complete autonomy in
trying to implement your plan.
>
> “I don’t think it happened with Gussy at Quins, I don’t think
he was given complete autonomy. By all account, clandestine
meetings by senior players have led to Gussy leaving. To be fair
to Gussy, I don’t think he wanted to stay there because he has
got a more exciting option.”
>
--- End Quote ---
Here's the link:
HTML https://www.rugbypass.com/news/some-quins-players-had-clandestine-meetings-with-the-ceo-the-rugby-pods-inside-story-on-hurried-gustard-exit-harlequins/
#Post#: 57602--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: January 26, 2021, 9:49 am
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A few things jump out here:
--- Quote ---
> “But the CEO has come out and said, ‘Individuals suit certain
environments and the club has taken time to reflect on the way
that they want to live and operate and create the identity and
culture that is reflective of us as a club’ and they say Paul
Gustard doesn’t suit that.
>
> “What is Quins’ culture because Gussy was trying to change
from the old to the new club and I don’t get what their culture
is? What do they think they have got, a winning mentality? They
have won nothing, they have won one league. "
--- End Quote ---
It's very likely that Gustard's treatment of coaches and players
is what's being referred to. Goode thinks culture is just about
how a team performs on the pitch. It's nothing of the sort.
--- Quote ---
> “I don’t think it happened with Gussy at Quins, I don’t think
he was given complete autonomy. By all account, clandestine
meetings by senior players have led to Gussy leaving. To be fair
to Gussy, I don’t think he wanted to stay there because he has
got a more exciting option.”
--- End Quote ---
1) "By all accounts" - has anyone heard this from anyone other
than Goode, out of curiosity?
2) Ah yes. Defence coach at one of the worst teams in Europe.
Much more exciting.
--- Quote ---
> “It’s a strange one,” said ex-England international Andy Goode
when addressing the fallout at Harlequins on the latest episode
of The Rugby Pod. “When Gussy [Gustard] took over, Quins were in
a really bad place. They were tenth in the league or something.
>
> “He has taken over, got them up to fifth in the first year and
sixth in the second year, got them to a final [Premiership Cup].
It looked like progression. There needed to be some sort of
broom taken through that club to get rid of some of the older
players and a coach like Gussy needed time for that.
--- End Quote ---
Quins had one poor season where we ended up 10th. The next
season was reversion to the mean - back to where we had been the
previous season. The season after that represented our second
poorest return in terms of league points in a decade of Quins
rugby (while also losing 4 out of 6 matches in Europe). That's
not progression. And things had clearly gotten worse this
season.
I think we can hazard a guess at where Goodey is getting his
Gussy info from...
#Post#: 57603--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: Monte
Date: January 26, 2021, 9:51 am
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Thanks for posting. Don’t believe that all this washing of
laundry in public is going to help. Our board is so small with
just suits and no rugby people on board they are really going to
need help getting a strong replacement for Gussie.
#Post#: 57604--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: honkytonk
Date: January 26, 2021, 9:55 am
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Is AG his mate???
#Post#: 57605--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: Fearless Fred
Date: January 26, 2021, 9:57 am
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As soon as Andy Goode is being touted as the conduit for these
stories, I almost run out of salt to take the story with. He has
a definite anti-Quins bias, and who can remember his almost
fanatical attempts to get Dave Ward banned for life for an
alleged spitting incident even after that was looked at by the
Powers That Be exhaustedly before clearing Ward. I reckon the
needles went a little too far into his head when he had the hair
transplant a few years back!
#Post#: 57607--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: January 26, 2021, 10:06 am
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I'll file that in the same place I file anything that comes from
Andy Goode. One of the worst and most obnoxious pundits in the
game.
If defence coach of Benetton is more exciting than DoR (head of
rugby) of a premiership, then that says something more about
Gustard / Goode than it does about Quins.
The idea that a few of the older players, who only have a season
or two left, could have convinced the board to get rid of
Gustard, if the board were otherwise convinced he was the man
for the job, is ridiculous. Care, Brown, Marler, etc might be
club legends, but I can't believe that the board would base
their hiring and firing on the opinions of those players.
If Smith, Dombrant, Murley, together with some of the senior
players, said that the culture and atmosphere at the club was
awful, the messages were confused, etc, that would be a
different matter
#Post#: 57609--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: A222Quin
Date: January 26, 2021, 10:15 am
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Oh it's Andy Goode. Rumourmonger and gobby so and so
extrordinaire. I think I'll take this with a Council Depot's
worth of salt.
#Post#: 57613--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: poorfour
Date: January 26, 2021, 10:47 am
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I suspect that if it had just been the older players, it might
have turned out differently.
If I were Dalrymple, I'd need the threat of losing Smith,
Dombrandt or Marchant to revisit a decision over a coach. The
club could afford to take the hit of Care or Brown moving on and
recover in a couple of years - but it took us a decade to find
replacements for NEv and Easter and his video makes it clear
that he sees it as essential to build the next squad around
them.
I'd also hazard a guess that it was more subtle than an outright
revolt - the hesitation seems to have been a trigger as much as
the renewal itself. It may have been a case of "if he's putting
us through changes we're not convinced by but he's also not
fully committed to it himself..."
All of which said, if Joe Marler went into my office and said
"Mate, he's a $&(*"&& and he's got to go", I think I'd probably
listen.
#Post#: 57616--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: Shack
Date: January 26, 2021, 1:00 pm
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It may just be coincidence but weren't Goode and Gustard
together at Leicester end 1990's early 2000's?
#Post#: 57617--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clandestine meetings between players and Laurie
DIR By: Harlequinade
Date: January 26, 2021, 1:42 pm
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His Linkedin post
"I am excited and delighted to be joining Benetton for the
2021/22 season. I decided in December that I wanted a new
experience and challenge, and was pleased to have so many
different opportunities domestically, internationally and abroad
available.
I wanted to join a group where there was a clear vision, deep
level of trust and a dynamic environment which was driven
towards high performance"
suggests that wasn't where he was at!
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