State of Sale - Part I

By Whaley Shark
January 28 2007

When he was eight, the Whaley Shark used to imagine he ruled the world. Now a mature and responsible adult, he spent a short time playing “If I ran Sale Sharks” the other night and ended up deciding that, however rubbish his current job is, it’s better than Niels de Vos’s.

In Part 1, Whaley Shark looks at the playing side of the club:

OK, where are we? We have just been dumped out of this year’s Heineken Cup, with a seriously depleted squad losing bravely to the Ospreys at home. A bit over half way through the GP programme, we are fourth in the Premiership, and in the EDF Cup semis, but we haven’t exactly set the world on fire. The average number of tries per game scored by each GP side this season is 2.05 but for us it’s just 1.7; last season, we scored 2.4 tries per game in the GP, well above the 2.0 average. What is the origin of this- are we too predictable, so defenders can handle us better; do we have the wrong tactical approach- too much reliance on forward power, perhaps; are the backs inadequately coached?

We did a lot of “winning ugly” last season and, by and large, the doubters were silenced by the run of victories, often achieved in purple patches lasting 20 minutes or less. This year, we have been inconsistent on the field and there is a view that we are playing uglier than ever. Is this just the best that we can do, given that the squad has been so battered, or has the game moved on and left us behind? Maybe it’s just a phase in the season, reflecting all the chopping and changing of the squad and the second half against Gloucester and the Ospreys game suggest we are getting beyond that now?

Mentioning the constant changes in the squad brings us neatly to the casualty list. The real killer here is not just that we have so many injuries, but that so many have been serious, putting key players out for months at a time or ending their season. Is this a change in training; if so, too much or too little or the wrong sort? Any professional athlete is very vulnerable to injury or illness, and perhaps we are just putting too much strain on our players’ bodies. Or are we just really, really unlucky?

Talking of unlucky, only someone who’s gone berserk with a sledgehammer in a mirror factory deserves the pain of dealing with the game’s rulers. Central contracts for elite players, franchises, the World Cup in autumn, will there be a Heineken Cup next year; if so who’ll be in it? These all have huge potential impacts on the shape of future seasons, on the number of games we will play, the likely crowd sizes, and on the amount of money which comes in. Yet, we have very little control of this. Maybe the clubs can stand together and fight some of the madder ideas, but how united would the clubs really be under pressure? Will they stand firm or split? Would we, for example, seize an opportunity to evolve into a Manchester-based franchise? With all of this uncertainty, how can we plan? How much can we pay the players (I defy anyone to find out the realities of the salary cap- what are the rules; who obeys them; who doesn’t)? What should the balance be between English and non-English players; internationals and non-capped players? Should we continue to devote time and resources to developing young English players? How big a squad will we need?

Hmmm, the squad. Well, of course, there are the rumours about PSA being pinched by the French after the World Cup. That could affect the re-signing of players and we’ve got a lot of important contract renewals in the next year- Barry Stewart, Lionel Faure, Andy Titterrell, Dean Schofield, Ben Foden, Elvis and Quates among them, I think. How might uncertainty over PSA’s future affect this? Can the players really be happy with the conservatism of our recent game plans? In a year when they are very unlikely to be part of a Premiership-winning squad, how can we persuade those who don’t start regularly to stick with us- there are already mutterings about Andy Titterell moving on?