Munster CEO Ian Flanagan has bowed to the inevitable and is to depart the crisis-stricken province in October. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find any supporters left scratching their heads, because this writing has been on the wall for some time.
If this is to be Munster’s rock bottom, then fundamental things are going to have to change. It’s clear that in the time remaining, if he is to salvage anything from his time at the top, Flanagan should prioritise a number of key areas, which wehave previously written about at length.
MEND THE PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS
First, as wehave said, this departure is no surprise. In April after the embarrassing Challenge Cup exit to Exeter, we wrote that a fish rots from the head down and the focus now had to be on Ian Flanagan and his utterly uninspiring tenure as Munster CEO.
That was nothing against the man personally, it was purely a business call because, bar the surprise annexation of a URC title three years ago, Flanagan’s time in charge has been a disaster.
Last April, Flanagan held a zoom call where he outlined how the province was looking for up to 100 voluntary redundancies.
Flanagan’s should have been the first hand in the air.
Munster chief executive Ian Flanagan, left, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD
As we wrote in April, it was widely known and reported that Flanagan put his name in the ring for the FAI CEO role, not a move to inspire confidence. It now proves to have been a fateful omen
During his time in the top job, bar the odd soft–soap chat with local outlets, Flanagan avoided media scrutiny, yet there was no sense of coherency or structure or vision or strategy under his watch.
He was brought in with a background in finance and marketing in the world of professional football from his time with Leicester City.
But on his watch, Munster’s finances have plummeted with a noted shortfall in major sponsorship, while the failure to get a significant naming rights sponsor for Thomond Park, surely an open goal if ever there was one, remains a major black mark.
The pathways have long been flagged as a problem in Munster – lagging far behind the Leinster schools–driven system – yet there has been no major plan to tackle this issue or address it publicly and now with the redundancies, the situation has worsened again.
There are people in the province, involved in the the underage and club games, who came up with a strategy involving funded-centres of excellence schools spread around the province with local talent funnelled in on scholarships from around the clubs.
But nothing was acted on, as Flanagan remained firmly in the shadows. He now, with nothing to lose, can take the first steps to place the grassroots at the centre of Munster’s future – where it always should have been.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
The Cork–Limerick divide in Munster continues to rip the province apart and nothing is being done to correct it.
Every week, you hear about the latest falling out or dispute between rival factions and all of them are holding the province back at a time when unity has never been more important.
Former IRFU high performance director David Nucifora spoke to Brendan Fanning in his book Touching Distance about the parochial, tribal carnage he was exposed to in Munster and he said the province would never progress as long as the warring factions continued to clash.
There is massive resentment around the province about Limerick being the self–proclaimed ‘home of Munster rugby’ with the other five counties, especially Cork, feeling excluded at a time when rugby in Limerick is at a particularly low ebb with hurling so prominent.
The sense is that the other counties are being ignored while Munster are squirrelled away in their den of failure up in UL and it is leading to a massive disconnect that is transferring onto the pitch.
How do you tackle this? Well, there is no quick fix to the Gordian knot of Cork-Limerick divide but there are easy steps the province can take to increase goodwill and collegiality.
For a start, take the team around the province, the way Leinster do. Hold Munster training sessions in Cork, Killarney, Clonmel, Cappoquin and Kilkee – bring the team to the people, make them feel involved and maybe that will help fill the vast banks of empty seats in Thomond Park.
There is also scope to play more games away from Limerick – why not Semple Stadium or Fitzgerald Park, the way Munster have done so successfully in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
This issue can no longer be ignored – there is a siege mentality in UL and refusal to face the truth.
COACHING CHAOS NEEDS TO STOP
This coaching ticket was doomed from the start. And that is not hindsight talking. Back when Clayton McMillan was appointed last year, we raised serious concerns about the fact he was inheriting his assistant coaches, rather than bringing in his own people.
Any rudimentary knowledge of professional sport would show this policy rarely works and it was another flawed strategic decision in a province full of them.
To compound the error, the coaches McMillan inherited were led by Mike Prendergast who had gone public about his desire to get the top job.
Head coach Clayton McMillan, left, and senior coach Mike Prendergast during a Munster Rugby squad training session at the University of Limerick
Dejected Munster players react after their Challenge Cup defeat to the Exeter Chiefs
Munster coaching team Denis Leamy, Ian Costello and attack coach Mike Prendergast
Munster skills coach Mossy Lawler
Prendergast was a popular and talented coach with strong Munster roots from his own playing days but he was rejected in favour of McMillan and then told to work alongside the Kiwi – with some token ‘senior coach’ promotion. Brutal planning whatever way you look at it.
This ended up with Prendergast’s easily predicted departure to Bath at the end of last season. It was McMillan’s attempt to replace Prendergast with his former assistant Roger Randle that led Munster into huge controversy.
A U-turn, a number of resignations, and the commissioning of an independent governance and organisational review, and we are where we are.
In the meantime, highly-rated Jared Payne has come in to help with the attack while Jimmy Duffy has also been added to the ticket.
Based on the manner of the display in Exeter, the level of coaching in Munster last year was not exactly high end.
McMillan – a highly regarded coach who looks like he has the right stuff – deserves the chance to work with his own people.
In this regard, the IRFU might look to Ulster as an example – Richie Murphy initially struggled as head coach until he got to bring his own coaches around him and suddenly the province was revitalised.
THE GREAT REDEEMER
The four words that should be ringing around the province as Munster pore over the entrails of their disastrous season are: Where is Declan Kidney?
The man who led the province to their two European titles is back home in Cork and available after his time at London Irish was ended by their financial difficulties.
Ronan O’Gara celebrates with Declan Kidney after beating Toulouse in the 2008 Heineken Cup final in Cardiff
The late great Anthony Foley holds the Heineken Cup with Declan Kidney after their 2006 win
Legendary Munster coach Declan Kidney and Paul O’Connell celebrate after the 2008 Heineken Cup final
There is no one better suited to calm everything down and to start knitting the province back together.
Not as head coach – that job should be McMillan’s – but as an overseer, working on the issues raised above – man managing, mending bridges and moulding talent.
And the good news is that there is talent coming through.
Munster had a healthy representation on the Ireland Under 20s and the PBC Cork team that just coasted to the Senior Schools title has some generational players destined to go to the very top (keep an eye out for exceptional centre Alex Moloney).
PBC Cork’s Alex Moloney skips past St Munchin’s Oisin Madden on his way to scoring a try in the Munster Schools Senior Cup final
Still only in his early 60s, Kidney knows every inch of rugby in this province. He played it, coached it at school, club and professional levels and he knows the politics of it – for Munster, Declan Kidney is the great redeemer.
And this province needs redeeming. Let the two major exits – from the challenge cup and now the departure of the CEO – be the line in the sand. We previously wrote that heads needed to roll, attitudes needed to change and Munster need to start again.
Now that the first major head has gone, Munster must kick on and make an opportunity of this crisis.
