Sale Part with Diamond
By JP
December 8 2020
Sale Sharks and director of rugby Steve Diamond have parted ways in a stunning development at the Premiership club.
One month after the club appointed a new chief executive in Sid Sutton, Diamond has departed Sale after eight years in Manchester.
His exit comes so early in the season, with Sharks winning two of their three matches in the Premiership thus far heading into this weekend’s Champions Cup clash at Toulon.
“After 10 proud years with Sale Sharks I have taken the decision to step away from the business,” Diamond said in a statement.
“I feel that this is the perfect moment to hand over to someone else, given the club is now stable and in a great position to compete at the highest level.
“We have acquired a world class training facility, built an academy that is the envy of many premiership clubs and constructed a squad that can win tournaments and trophies at domestic and European level.
“I know Simon and Ged will continue with the progress we have made together, and I now look forward to taking some time out and planning my next challenge.”
Diamond did not specify the reasoning for leaving, but after guiding Sale to within a hair’s length of the play-offs last season his mother passed away in November following a short illness.
At his press conference on November 25, Diamond spoke of a number of people at the club hit by bereavements in recent weeks.
“Around the building, in our little environment here, we have had four family deaths over the last six weeks for various reasons and none of them thankfully Covid. It puts in perspective kicking a ball around,” Diamond said.
“Manu’s (Tuilagi) dad passed away. John Kirkpatrick, the conditioner, his dad passed away. Valery Morozov’s brother tragically died in a car crash the week before last, and my mum passed away last Thursday. She played a big part in my life. She was 85, she had a good innings… she wasn’t a big person actually but in the realms of personality, she could swear with the best.
“She was driving the car three days before she died. It was a very short illness. Tough lady. Six kids, all born at home, all born within six years. Had no records of her in the hospital. The last time she went to hospital was 1961.
“The way I deal with the players is a lot of the way I was brought up. My dad died when I was 15 so my mother was on her own for virtually 40 years. That’s a tough life. In the world that we live in people could take a leaf out of those days, how people lived and how people were resilient. That is what I have always taken and that is what I do.”
After bringing the likes of Jono Ross and Lood de Jager to the club, Diamond took Sale towards a first Premiership play-off since they won the league in 2006 only for a Covid-19 outbreak within the squad to derail their season.
Dealing with 19 positive cases, Sharks had their match against Worcester Warriors cancelled which allowed Bath to progress to the semi-finals.
Attack coach Paul Deacon will assume responsibility for first-team matters as head coach, as Sale now begin a recruitment process for someone to fill the void left by Diamond.
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Dimes is like marmite & I would have him here @ the drop of a hat but judging by his statement I don't think he'll be back in rugby @ the highest level.Not as a DoR anyway and certainly not as a coach working under a DoR.
Dimes is financially involved with Sale aswell.
I cant imagine it is any fun running a premiership rugby club at the moment. Even if you win nobody gets to see it and you cant celebrate in the traditional ways and you get criticised for breaking Covid rules when in fact you probably didn't.
[www.independent.co.uk]
'school of hard knocks leading to brain damage'
Sometimes I wonder whether someone 'old school' would bring something to Worcester where I worry we are all a bit too nice....?
The latter not all his fault, but depends on the rules - see other post 'requested ' changes to the game, and
[www.walesonline.co.uk].
The guy is going to be harassed by legal suits and lawyers for the next 20 years, as a witness for /and against the opposition
Quote:The Daily Telegraph
A disagreement about the future direction of the team on the field lay at the heart of the abrupt departure of Steve Diamond as director of rugby at Sale Sharks.
End of an era: Steve Diamond has left Sale after more than a decade at the club, but leaves a ‘massive legacy’
Even though Sale had qualified for this season’s European Champions Cup, which opens this weekend with the North-West side facing a mountainous task at the Stade Mayol against three-time European champions Toulon, a surprise 15-13 defeat by newly promoted Newcastle Falcons two weeks ago prompted soul-searching at the club.
There was also friction about the best way forward and Diamond parted company with the club he has been associated with for many years across different eras.
Acting head coach Paul Deacon has revealed that he was left “numb with shock” when the news was given to key staff at a hurriedly convened 7.45am meeting on ¬Tuesday that Diamond was leaving with immediate effect for “personal ¬reasons”.
A former Great Britain and England rugby league international, Deacon, who arrived at the club five years ago to learn a new trade, has been charged with the immediate task of facing Toulon on Saturday.
Diamond had been the driving force at the club for more than a decade and had also enjoyed a long playing career for Sale. The former hooker has managed to help keep them in decent commercial order and establish themselves as a serious entity on the field of play.
That looked as if it was all coming to fruition with new owners in the form of Simon Orange and Ged Mason, whose investment has led to signings such as Manu Tuilagi and a raft of South African World Cup winners, including Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager. The Curry twins, Tom and Ben, have been ¬nurtured through the ranks. All that foundation work has been put in jeopardy with Diamond’s abrupt departure.
“It came as a big shock and I certainly feel numb by it,” Deacon said. “I’m sure some of the lads will be feeling the same way. I don’t know the ins and outs. We only found out at a 7.45am staff meeting on Tuesday. It’s all been a bit mad since then, very hectic.
“I can’t say for certain this won’t affect the team [in some way]. It has not really all sunk in yet and the key now is to get us best prepared for a trip to Toulon.
“I’m excited by the prospects, but as to what happens in the long-term, that’s all above my head. I’ll take my chances and see how I fare. We’ll have to see how the dust settles. On the [training] field things won’t be much different.
“I’ve learnt a massive amount from Dimes [Steve Diamond]. I’m so lucky he decided to take a punt on me. He has left a massive -legacy here and he will be missed. He more or less built the training centre here at Carrington by himself. What I’d like to say to our fans is that we may have lost our leader, but I think we are in good hands.”
Based on Dime's comments about his background / school of hard knocks and recent family loss, I still think, it is a combination of factors which certainly includes the 'brain damage' problem, and his past approach to it.
But doubt anyone is going to ask him, and doubt he is going to say.