Saints Need Deano To Turn Them Into A Big-time Club

Saints Need Deano To Turn Them Into A Big-time Club

JIM Mallinder has had highs and lows at Northampton, starting with winning promotion back to the Premiership, to the 2011 European Cup final – which they had won, but then lost – to the club’s first Premiership title in 2014, and then the lows since then.

There had to be an upturn this season, and when there wasn’t Mallinder was always in jeopardy. There were rumours that a few players walked off during training sessions, and if that happens you are shipping water badly.

Coaches also left during Mallinder’s decade as Northampton’s director of rugby, and backroom-wise it became a bit of a revolving door with the likes of Alex King, Ali Hepher, Rob Hunter and Paul Grayson all moving on.

During Mallinder’s time at the club the pitch has been superb – turning from a surface which had boggy patches to one better than most professional football surfaces – but in recent seasons the team has failed to capitalise on it.

When spectators started leaving during the Ospreys game last weekend most people could see that Mallinder’s departure was almost an inevitability so you like to think that Jim could see what was coming, and it therefore wasn’t a shock to him.

Northampton are potentially a huge club, currently with some decent players, and their fans have been waiting for them to make the best of what they’ve got. The missing link is finding a coach who can do the job.