Bristol suspend Andy Robinson *****SACKED*****

Being reported Andy Robinson has been suspended from his role as director of rugby at Bristol,  speculation that former South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer is poised to take control at the West Country club.

Our sport is turning into football.  

Absolutely insane decision, new three year contract a few months ago, something like half the squad out injured and essentially a new starting XV brought in this season

What were they expecting?

marty2086 wrote:Absolutely insane decision, new three year contract a few months ago, something like half the squad out injured and essentially a new starting XV brought in this season

What were they expecting?

Retaining Aviva Premiership status I guess.

My point is that when you are make so many changes it makes it difficult and another change doesn't guarantee success, especially when you've got a guy in charge who has pretty much rebuilt the squad so they are part of a bigger plan and vision which may not be the case if you bring someone new in. In fact you probably have to start from scratch again

I don't understand why he would be suspended? If they're bringing in a replacement, I assume all the legal eagles will have made sure they can break the contract whenever they choose, why does he need to be suspended?

?

Tainton takes over for now.

Seems bizarre, what did they really expect with the squad they have? And what do they suddenly expect to happen now?

I've said for a while that the promoted club should get 2 seasons to try to stay up, a guaranteed first season to get used to the physicality. Then the next season to aim for 11th.

The bizarre decision was giving him a 3 year contract extension, not getting rid of him now. Anyone watching them in the Championship could see their defence was woeful, they simply outscored the opposition; they always shipped a good number of points. Their defence hasn't been addressed at all. Neither has their lack of a 10; they don't have any control and it appears they were reliant on Henson staying fit to hit the goals. We all know the Championship teams are hamstrung when recruiting for the Jeff, but Offside completely failed to prepare. I'm not sure what Lansdowne expected, unless he naively bought into Offside's nonsense!

As an aside he's suspended as they haven't agreed compensation, but he will not be back.

TightHEAD wrote:Bristol suspend Andy Robinson

Pity it wasn't from  Clifton Bridge.

Why they have suspended and not sacked him or just let him do the job I really don't know. More money than sense

HKC is spot on.  At this stage last season Bristol had conceded 164 points in the Championship.  As a comparison London Irish have conceded 78.  It was pretty obvious to a blind man that they simply outgunned their opponents with their superior firepower, but that was never going to cut it in the Premiership.  Robinson's time at the club, despite finally gaining promotion has to be considered a failure, particularly given the funding available to him.  As HKC has said, the bizarre decision regarding his future is not this one, it is the one to give him a contract extension.

Ozzy3213 wrote:HKC is spot on.  At this stage last season Bristol had conceded 164 points in the Championship.  As a comparison London Irish have conceded 78.  It was pretty obvious to a blind man that they simply outgunned their opponents with their superior firepower, but that was never going to cut it in the Premiership.  Robinson's time at the club, despite finally gaining promotion has to be considered a failure, particularly given the funding available to him.  As HKC has said, the bizarre decision regarding his future is not this one, it is the one to give him a contract extension.

What is he supposed to do with that funding? They secured promotion in the Summer more or less. There were very little options for him to sign bug name players in 8 weeks as there are few opportunities for transfer fees in rugby.

Promotion in pro rugby is always going to have this paradox. They do not have the players, and they cannot get the players - unless they have a run in the same league for a couple of seasons. A new coach might play better rugby but they'll still go down without new players.

I don't buy that, he could have put the building blocks into place in the Championship but didn't.  It's not all about players, it's also about game plan, coaching etc and watching them there does not appear to be any of that which has been of the required standard.

Bristol have been building for the Premiership for a number of seasons, and Robinson had made some big name signings to supplement his Championship team (Ian Evans, Matthew Morgan, Gavin Henson, Tom Varndell) while others like Jordan Crane were signed before the end of last season.

The issue is that Bristol's defence was not good enough last season (407 points conceded), the season before (425), the season before that (525) all whilst topping the table. Their tactic seemed to be to ignore defence and back themselves to score more than their opponents. To survive in the premiership you need a lot more quality than they have to use that tactic, and can never truly thrive. The cornerstone has to be a solid defence - and Bristol have ignored that, causing pressure on the rest of their game.

Evans - picking up his salary
Morgan - so terrible he left
Henson - past it and injury prone
Crane - barely mid table premiership standard

Varndell is the only one that's passable as a AP quality player. Bristol simply do not have an AP quality squad. Giving Robinson a 3 year contract with that squad was utterly stupid.

His biggest failure has been that he has not recruited a suitable 10 to allow him to execute a game plan that gives his side a chance.  They are on the back foot so often it is inevitable that they will leak points.  I know he's retired, but you put someone like Andy Goode in that side, get him to put them in the right areas, and they would have more than their two losing bonus points so far.

Robison's profile on LinkedIn isn't exactly worth bragging about so I'm not sure how he keeps getting more jobs after being sacked (or resigning) so often. Good news is that Dragons will be bringing in Ian Evans now.

yappysnap wrote:Seems bizarre, what did they really expect with the squad they have? And what do they suddenly expect to happen now?

I've said for a while that the promoted club should get 2 seasons to try to stay up, a guaranteed first season to get used to the physicality. Then the next season to aim for 11th.

Yep - that's a reasonable approach to Promotion into a much tougher League - the chance given has to be a real one - not just window dressing. But I suppose that would complicate the lower League and leave two potential teams (winner of season one and possible different winner of season two) wondering which team should get a promotion.

Now officially S A C K E D.

I despise this football culture entering rugby.

SecretFly wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Seems bizarre, what did they really expect with the squad they have? And what do they suddenly expect to happen now?

I've said for a while that the promoted club should get 2 seasons to try to stay up, a guaranteed first season to get used to the physicality. Then the next season to aim for 11th.

Yep - that's a reasonable approach to Promotion into a much tougher League - the chance given has to be a real one - not just window dressing.  But I suppose that would complicate the lower League and leave two potential teams (winner of season one and possible different winner of season two) wondering which team should get a promotion.

Scrapping the play-offs would be an easy way to make things a bit easier as that would help recruitment ...

What I find utterly bizarre is that Bristol supposedly have a wealthy owner yet do not have the players to suggest this. Now I am not expecting Bristol to be Toulon-esque or even Bath-esque in terms of investment but there needed to be something.

It is strange to sack coaches like Abramovich does in football but not invest in players like him.

Didn't help that Borthwick was poached by England either.

You can have a wealthy owner but it does not guarantee success without a good structure put in place and more importantly investment.

Beshocked, the problem is that by the time the play offs are finished all the good players are signed up. This means the club going up has no one to approach.

They gave Robinson plenty of time and funds to build a premiership side - foundations aren't in place for lasting success at the top.
However many years of falling at the last hurdle meant that the focus was all about getting to the prem and not so much about staying there.

The squad composition is wrong - players need to want to be there and there appears to be a lot of them that are just picking up a pay check (see RugbyFan100's post above). Using the Exeter model, if you must bring in experience then make sure it is experience with a chip on its shoulder and a point to prove. Chiefs first season in the prem, there was no mass clear out - squads were largely trusted to step up and then they added a number of guys that were miffed about having contracts cancelled and wanted to still make an impact.

Defence has been a lasting issue and hasn't been resolved.

Any new coach coming in will have to work with the squad he has and be given time to make those changes - sadly it will probably be time in the championship next season unless there is a dramatic turn around.

I think its high time Robinson was sacked (like most of his other roles). As I mentioned - he had plenty of time.

The recently extended contract is the 1 anomaly! What idiot would offer that contract if there were rumblings of discontent within the board?
You would presume that Andy got a very reasonable settlement.

I think it's time for Andy to come to the conclusion that he's probably sliding down a ladder now quicker than he's ever going to go back up one. Call it a day, go find a less stressful job, do some TV punditry, stretch out his legs, relax.

propdavid_london wrote:The recently extended contract is the 1 anomaly! What idiot would offer that contract if there were rumblings of discontent within the board?
You would presume that Andy got a very reasonable settlement.

Someone(few) who liked Andy as a person, wanted rid of him as a coach but allowed a contract to be signed to give him a little take-home consolation packet?

beshocked wrote:What I find utterly bizarre is that Bristol supposedly have a wealthy owner yet do not have the players to suggest this. Now I am not expecting Bristol to be Toulon-esque or even Bath-esque in terms of investment but there needed to be something.

It is strange to sack coaches like Abramovich does in football but not invest in players like him.

Didn't help that Borthwick was poached by England either.

You can have a wealthy owner but it does not guarantee success without a good structure put in place and more importantly investment.

One of the problems is that Robinson has spread what money was available across too large a squad.

It was always fun when Wales beat Scotland to see the expression on his angry little monkey's heed.

Exiledinborders wrote:

beshocked wrote:What I find utterly bizarre is that Bristol supposedly have a wealthy owner yet do not have the players to suggest this. Now I am not expecting Bristol to be Toulon-esque or even Bath-esque in terms of investment but there needed to be something.

It is strange to sack coaches like Abramovich does in football but not invest in players like him.

Didn't help that Borthwick was poached by England either.

You can have a wealthy owner but it does not guarantee success without a good structure put in place and more importantly investment.

One of the problems is that Robinson has spread what money was available across too large a squad.

They offered long term deals out to keep together the best squad in the Championship but then seemed to decide that those players weren't AP standard and tried to buy a new squad. Now they've got the biggest squad in the league but not enough quality. Got to be some unhappy players who have now found themselves out in the cold as well.