Latest from Dai

[JonnyD]

Does seem to be a bit of niggle between Dai and the board.

Wonder if the board are essentially saying, ‘this is what you have, that’s more than enough, go out and show us what you can do (... or we’ll get someone in who can)

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Does seem to be a bit of niggle between Dai and the board.

Wonder if the board are essentially saying, ‘this is what you have, that’s more than enough, go out and show us what you can do (... or we’ll get someone in who can)

Or ... the fans want to see the young ones coming in, not galacticos. Use them, play them.

[Rifleman Harris]

I get the feeling it is the coaching situation that is getting to him.  He has been given permission to offer contracts to 2 guys, I wonder how many he has requested and not been given permission?

[BG]

It sounds like he's having to go back and forth between a potential candidate and the board at each stage of a discussion which might be restricting his "sales" pitch to entice someone to join.

[Lwasp]

I've worked for a company owned by a single wealthy individual. When you're spending his money, and in Dai's case with no actual success yet (yes we can argue whether getting to the final is a success, but we didn't win the title), it is not a surprise that the source of funding wants approval of contract offers and cash outlay. Dai might feel he should be able to offer what he wants to who he wants, but it isn't his cash on the line.

I don't fall in to the category of fan that believes unlimited amounts of someone else's money should be spent to allow me to enjoy a fleeting moment of success. I've been to finals and enjoyed us lifting trophies, I want to go to more. That means our club has to be viable in the long term. We still aren't, yet. So some sensible oversight from DR seems perfectly acceptable to me and not a cause for concern.

[Westy68]

Surely we can’t be anywhere near the salary cap. We are currently 5 players down from last season.

We haven’t brought in enough players of the quality that is needed to have a chance of making top 4 or even top 6, unless the academy players really step up.

It’s a little concerning on how Dai is coming across, sounds like he knows we don’t have enough to challenge next season. This really worries me about launchbury, he will not accept not playing in the top competitions

[Westy68]

Does seem to be a bit of niggle between Dai and the board.

Wonder if the board are essentially saying, ‘this is what you have, that’s more than enough, go out and show us what you can do (... or we’ll get someone in who can)

Or ... the fans want to see the young ones coming in, not galacticos. Use them, play them.

I agree with that. You’ve got good players right under your nose, therefore use it

Maybe DR is getting fed up with Dai not taking the club forward, as with a lot of supporters who are not convinced with Dai, DR needs Dai to show his worth. Maybe

[Rifleman Harris]

Those last 2 statements are slightly contradictory - we won't do well without big signings unless the academy players somehow step up and then we have academy players who should be in the side because they are so good.   If we get new big name signings in (which I doubt and may not gel anyway - Lima being a good example, WLR has been miss more than hit this year too), then this will potentially block the progress of the younger players and people will be up in arms when they move on.

I would be happy for a rebuilding season next year bringing through the new generation of Wades, Dalys, Launchberrys etc.  That will stand us in good stead for future years and if a step back is what it takes to get there, then so be it. As I said elsewhere it will be very competitive next year, and I think we will be in the mix...I can just see that mix being from 2nd or 3rd down to 12th.  It will be fine margins next year and a dose of luck.

My feeling is that Dai is frustrated at the tooing and froing over the coach.

[mike909]

Surely we can’t be anywhere near the salary cap. We are currently 5 players down from last season.

If we are anywhere near the cap...how does one club manage to employ 5 likely starting Lions forwards...and at least three Lions backs (next season)...must be the pull of London...

[Westy68]

Surely we are only talking about 3 maybe 4 players from the academy. We need quality players to fill most of the positions we don’t have an academy player coming through.

No point bringing in an expensive player when we can have a potentially quality player from the academy.

Everyone knows we need a 2nd row if not 2 but we bring in another championship player. Not what I was expecting.

I believe DR would like Dai to be a bit more sensible in his choice of players

[Westy68]

Surely we can’t be anywhere near the salary cap. We are currently 5 players down from last season.

If we are anywhere near the cap...how does one club manage to employ 5 likely starting Lions forwards...and at least three Lions backs (next season)...must be the pull of London...

Because trophies are more important then money. Did you not know you can pay your mortgage off with trophies, o no sorry you can’t

[mike909]

 

Yep - I'm sure Daly left for a wildly more expensive area for less money...and the fun of playing on plastic

Might make the Lions stronger if they play together more often!

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Surely we are only talking about 3 maybe 4 players from the academy. We need quality players to fill most of the positions we don’t have an academy player coming through.

No point bringing in an expensive player when we can have a potentially quality player from the academy.

Everyone knows we need a 2nd row if not 2 but we bring in another championship player. Not what I was expecting.

I believe DR would like Dai to be a bit more sensible in his choice of players

I think either 4 or 6 players will join from the academy, maybe even 8. But not 1, 2, 3 ,5 or 7.

[Hymenoptera]

Not sure what people mean by the term "competitive." I keep hearing it, here and on DW, but in our league this year everyone was competitive. Newcastle seemed pretty competitive beating us at home. We were a couple a wins away from fourth this year, and a couple away from potential doom at one point, so I will agree that we will be competitive, we have been competitive this year. If you are not competitive then we would not have turned chiefs over. However, I don't feel that we will be in the top two next year, even with the masses of call ups for Sarries, and could easily repeat this season if the injury curse continues. In fact I feel we are likely to be looking for top 6 without any more signings. A couple of years ago we weren't "competetive," I would say a more apposite adjective would be "breathtaking" or "scintillating" and at times downright unstoppable, and more importantly in a league of three. Now we are in a league of ten and I can't see that changing......

Only the deluded believe you can go out and 'buy' a team overnight that suddenly blitzes the rest, so while thats the case, the best you can hope for is to be competitive. 3-11 are competitive, so not sure what your miracle is expected. Maybe mirroring Sale and buying every Springbok available would satisfy?

[St Bruno]

FWIW, I think Dai's complaining at the lack of a budget for him to hire a coach, which is why he's having to go back to the board for approval each time.