‘Stagnation’ sees Fletcher’s demise

11:25am Thursday 13th March 2008

NEWCASTLE Falcons chairman Dave Thompson insists the decision to allow director of rugby John Fletcher to leave the club was not a political one.

A bullish Thompson was adamant the reason Fletcher and coach Peter Walton were asked to leave the club by mutual consent' was purely down to the Falcons' indifferent performances this season.

The chairman believes the Falcons had stagnated under Fletcher, who only took the reins from former director of rugby Rob Andrew in August 2006, and says he did not feel the Kingston Park based outfit were moving forward quickly enough for him.

But Thompson is confident that by removing Fletcher from his post Falcons can now do so.

"I am stating that quite clearly, I am not satisfied with where we are," said the Newcastle Falcons chief. "We have to improve.

You do not improve overnight, you have to look for progress.

"That is what I am hoping we are going to achieve.

"As a club, we may have been perceived to be too nice and too cosy, and the only person who can rectify that is me, because direction comes from the top.

"Maybe it's been my fault as much as anybody else's over the years. But I have made a decision that I am not happy with this anymore.

"I guess that translates into the team. Is that real burning desire there?

"I want to see emotion on the pitch and pushing it to the limit.

"We have too many players who believe in crutches and excuses - there are no excuses."

Thompson has handed Steve Bates the temporary responsibility of turning around Falcons' inconsistent fortunes and finding the passion and desire he believes has been absent from the club's performances this term.

The former England scrum half has been handed the position until the end of the season when a decision will be made on whether to give him the post on a full-time basis.

Bates acknowledged he was as shocked as anyone to hear the club were dispensing with Fletcher and Walton's services.

The 44-year-old understands how they must feel as he was released from his Falcons contract in 2003 after eight years as the first-team coach.

But while Bates is disappointed two good friends have lost their positions, he relishes the challenge of being appointed as Falcons director of rugby on a full-time basis.

"The priority for us now is to look after the players and make sure this club goes forward,"

said Bates, who only rejoined Falcons in May last year as the club's new coaching and technical director. "I am in a position to allow that to happen and it is my obligation as an employee of the club.

"This (the job) is something we're going to have to look at over the next couple of months.

This is my career and this is a great opportunity because there are only 12 jobs of this nature available in the Premiership. So you have to be very realistic and think very carefully about the implications."

Bates originally joined Newcastle with former Wasps colleague Rob Andrew in 1995 and guided the club to the inaugural Premiership title in 1998 before adding the Tetley's Bitter Cup three years later.

Although Falcons have enjoyed the relative success of winning two Powergen Cups since then, the club has never really threatened to scoop the Guinness Premiership for a second time.

But while that may seem a long way off at the moment, given they lie in tenth place from 12 teams, Bates believes the Tyneside club can still challenge the top six and win a place in the Heineken Cup.

"From what I see, this club has great potential and we can compete with anybody on our day,"

he said. "We have tomake sure our day is more frequent than it is at the moment."

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