The King is Dead

The king is dead. Long Live the king.

The day that we hoped might never come has indeed landed. Cockers is no more.

He is off to pursue other opportunities according to the club statement.

My initial reaction was not of despair however as it has been clear for some time that it looked like he had taken the club as far as he could.

I’ve repeatedly highlighted the lack of a cohesive attack strategy at Edinburgh which is easy to lay at Duncan Hodge’s door but Cockerill was his boss so if I could see it then why couldn't he and if he could why hadn’t he addressed it?

Cocker's body language and statements in the latter part of the season were increasingly at odds with the combative and abrasive personality we saw when he first arrived. 

No longer were we told that “commitment should not be commended but expected really” but instead after another defeat at the hands of Ulster at the end of the season we had an even tempered Cockerill say that he “was proud of the effort”.

It bore all the hallmarks of someone working their notice or at the very least someone who had decided he had had enough of this particular working environment. 

Add to that the rumours of an unhappy camp and the departure of star players, one of whom was still in the middle of a contract, and you have to wonder if this deal was done a lot earlier than we are being expected to believe.

How will we know? 

If before the end of this week or perhaps next week at the latest don't be surprised if you see Richard Cockerill being unveiled as the new coach of (insert name here). After that it's up to you readers if you want to believe that (insert name here) have only just realised they need a new coach and managed to tie up the fortuitously just released former Edinburgh coach in a few short days. How lucky is that? Talk about the right place at the right time.

So why keep it a secret?

Well there's the small matter of the 3000+ season tickets sold in the last couple of weeks. Most would probably have renewed anyway but why take the risk if you can manage to engineer it correctly?

Hopefully, it also means that some progress has been made in recruiting a successor whilst the whole thing has been kept on the low down. Who could we be talking about?

Roddy Grant

Mike Blair

Duncan Hodge

Ben Ryan

are all names that wouldn’t be a surprise.

 

Roddy is a fans favourite and may be ready for the step up after a time away with Ulster. 

Mike Blair is also a decent shout. He’s in the setup already and this could be a good move for him with a view to making a further step up in the future when Townsend moves on. 

Ben Ryan has been linked with Edinburgh before and still has a relationship with the SRU. 

Duncan Hodge may even be given the job again but interestingly the interim leadership of the club has been given to Calum Macrae and Nick Lumley so that may be him ruled out by omission at this stage.

Perhaps if the head coach is backs orientated then we might find room for a new forwards coach. In that case I’d like to see Alistair Dickinson stay nearer home having gained valuable experience at Bristol. 

Any other suggestions? Happy with these?

Cockerill was fond of extolling that the team had stayed in the fight. It seems that's not something he himself was prepared to do. I get it. Limited budget, international call ups, maybe an unhappy camp and interference in selection will all have grated despite knowing that some of these things would be a factor when he arrived. If he ends up somewhere that he can avoid such annoyances then good luck to him. 

He took us a ways down the road and the journey was fun for the most part but it looks like he was driving an electric car and found charging points hard to come by.

The king is dead. Long live the king whoever that may be.