Gloucester
Will Ryan still be with Glaws next season?
Dean Ryan - rumours
By Cherry Tree
December 9 2008
As rumours fly about Dean Ryan’s future in rugby, Gloucester fans are beginning to ask the big question – should he go or should he stay? The Kingsholm coach has a deserved top reputation both at Gloucester and throughout club rugby in Europe. But annual disappointments in domestic competitions have proved frustrating for him, his players, the fans ... and the club bosses.
There was speculation before this season started that Ryan would be off anyway if Glaws again fail to win anything, but now he is being linked with a possible move to Wasps, misfiring this season after winning the Guinness Premiership title last season.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Ryan is a top-class coach, he’s proved that in the past, but nowadays club rugby is about one thing and one thing only – success.
If your team wins nothing, you’ve failed, and Gloucester have spent a lot of money on the club’s squad in recent years without any reward where it really matters, the Premiership and the Heineken Cup.
It could be that Ryan himself is considering leaving the club and trying his luck elsewhere – after all, finishing as one of the also-rans season after season is frustrating for him as well as everybody else, especially after Glaws have dominated the regular GP league season for the last two seasons yet failed in the play-offs.
Nothing is forever in professional sport, and if we fancied a flutter we would probably at this moment put a couple of bob on somebody else being in charge at Kingsholm when next season kicks off.
But there’s a long way to go yet, and much will depend on whether Gloucester actually win anything this season.
If they do, Ryan might stay – but there’s no guarantee even then.
Meanwhile, Ryan is preparing his team, and plotting his changes, for the weekend’s Heineken Cup return against Calvisano at Kingsholm, when only a bonus point win will do.
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