Member Evening Pt1 - P.Tom and P.Wheeler speak

By Ian Birks
February 4 2004

Précis of the member evening held on Tuesday 03 February 2004, part 1 – the board members speak. Questions and answers are not are not reported verbatim.

Sam Rossiter-Stead introduced Peter Tom and Peter Wheeler to give their accounts of the recent events surrounding the departure of Dean Richards from Leicester Tigers. First Peter Tom gave the background to the situation and then Peter Wheeler explained how the club saw the short term and long term future.

P. Tom: The last 24 hours have been very sad and difficult or the club.

Since the game turned professional, the board have feared that the club would find itself in a position where they would be unable to attract top class players. They were also wary of having a ‘money man’ backer, as is the case in many ZP clubs.

During the first few years of professionalism, the club lost £3m - £4m, but now have a good financial position and are owned by the members: this was the first objective. The second objective was to be the best rugby club in the world.

In August 2002, there was a meeting between the board and Dean Richards to try to stop what happened to Bath happening to Leicester.

There was a follow up meeting between the board and Dean Richards in which the board wanted to introduce changes to improve the situation for the club.

Two weeks ago, the final plan was put into place to bring about these improvements.

During the meeting yesterday {Monday 02 February 2004} Dean felt unable to accept these changes. The meeting was amicable , but Dean felt that he was unable to continue with the club.


P.Wheeler: Yesterday was a sad day for all concerned.

There are two key areas that lead to this situation:
# Performance has declined over the past 12 to 14 months and the board felt that they could not just stand by and do nothing. There was review of the playing side resulting in making recommendations for the future. Martin Johnson and Neil Back will be invaluable in this process.
# Secondly, we need a robust recruitment process.

Therefore, we agreed to part ways as Dean was not willing to take the same route.

John Wells, Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Andy Key and I {Peter Wheeler} will be looking after the player affairs to the end of the season.

Our priority for the rest of the season is that we are looking to win the wild card playoff and qualify for the European Cup next year.

From today, we start moving forward and get back to where we were three years ago.

Questions from the floor.

Question: What proposals were put forward to Dean Richards?

The board wanted a review of the playing side, to have a group of people to have a say in player recruitment and team management.


Question: Short term – how do you go about putting the club back on the right foot?

A group has been put together looking at whether to run with a Team Manager of to replace the Director Of Rugby. After this decision has been made, an advert for the position will be placed world wide.


Question: You mentioned proposals the Dean was unable to accept, what were Dean’s reasons for refusing these proposals?

Dean is a strong and stubborn character. During the last 18 months, the board tried to help Dean to overcome these problems – this was a genuine attempt to help. With so many injuries, it was decided to review the whole of the playing side, and Dean felt unable to accept these changes.


Question: Has anyone been approached to replace Dean?

No. No one has been approached yet.


Question: What has been the effect on team morale?

It is difficult to keep this sort of thing confidential, with the press etc.. The players were aware that there were problems, but they are professional rugby players. The board kept in touch with senior players, but it is important to take time to asses where we are and build a robust recruitment process. The players will be happier now that it is all over and they are excited about the future.
Announcements will be made over the next few days to keep you informed.

Question: Announcements – where and when can we expect to hear them?

PW passed this over to SRS to answer.

SRS: Announcement will be made in the Leicester Mercury, Radio Leicester and on the web site.


Question: There are two reasons why we are in this position: players leaving for international duty and the salary cap: what is the boards view on this?

P. Tom: LFC feels that the salary cap does not constrain the club.
Player absence is an issue…

Question: You have said that all of this occurred in the last 24 hours, but on Friday there were rumours of player involvement in Dean’s leaving.

P.Tom: The first rumours were around months ago: Dean going to Stade Francais…
There was no get together by the players: this was a decision that evolved over the past 18 months.