Wednesday 11 December 2013

Caught between a rock and a hard place!

The dust is starting to settle slightly from the eruption that happened at Bath Rugby on Monday. When the news broke that Gary Gold and Bath had parted company; the fans, the press and everybody in English rugby went into meltdown.

Disbelief, anger, confusion filled the internet, and the most asked question was 'why?'
A question Bath were unable to answer, and as lack of answers followed so did the anger and speculation. Driven by the growing pressure to speak out Bath released their statement.

“Bath Rugby can today confirm that Gary Gold has left the club with immediate effect.

“The decision was taken following a restructure in the rugby department and with the best interests of both Gary and the club in mind.

“No further comment will be made until it is appropriate.”

A statement that was surely the work of Bath's legal team, leading to further speculation and a sence things hadn't finished to amicably.
We can speculate and guess at the reasons for the untimely departure but we just don't have the information and with the back up tweet from Bath it seems their hands are legally bound.

"@bathrugby: We know today's news was big, but we have said all we are currently permitted to say. If we can tell you more soon, we promise we will."

From this it seems that Bath are "caught between a rock and a hard place".
They have received a barrage of Tweets, Facebook messages etc. demanding answers, yet they can't!!

How could Bath get it so wrong? Because no matter how you weigh this it was a catrascophic PR disaster.
As the news was leaked Bath had to rush a statement, but why were they already not prepared for the chance this could happen?
For some reason Bath leaks information like somebody has left the plug out (sorry terrible pun); for example players linked with the club, then denied leading to them actually signing. With this knowledge surely a contingency plan surely needed to be put into action.
Even as the supporters had their backs up another rumour began to speculate; Steve McNamara the England Rugby League coach was coming to join Bath as skills/attack coach, more perfect timing!

Bath has suffered some serious bad PR in the past; drugs, punches and even previous parting of coaching staff members, yet Bath seems not to of learnt from these episodes. Unfortunately due to this a top class professional rugby club is starting to look very poorly run.

Gary Gold was a big favourite with the supporters and a big loss in our eyes. He put himself out there and happily interacted with the fans helping to build the #BathFamily.
I was lucky enough to visit him at Farlirgh and he showed me the aims and targets he had for Bath, a truly knowledgeable and passionate human being.
After his departure the fact that he even made the effort to Direct Message the fans thanking them for their support, indicating what the club and its supporters meant to him.
A huge shame that at the end of his tenure we as fans didn't have the chance to bid him a proper fair well with a round of applause at the Rec.

All in all we are passionate about the club, this shows in the attendances at home games, but a little faith has been knocked and I for one hope Bath can work to regain it.

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