Maybe time for new Lions Coach???

Just wondered after this weekends loss again for the Lions agianst the Western Force is it not maybe time for a new coaching staff at the lions yes in the past John might have been an o.k coach but lets face it he was no Robbie Deans or Graham Henry! He has done great things so far with the Lions players, he has made some great player Like Josh Strauss and Elton Jantjies and even Jaco Taute but he still has not delivered a good super season performance.

Is it really worth it to keep him or should the Lions union rather look for another solution?

Terence its not Mitchell who is the fault - he has a poor squad. Remember how Ludeke crashed at the Lions.

Too many injuries ruined their chances.

Interesting viewpoints. The Lions have been crap in Super Rugby right from the start. Before they were the Lions, the Cats were almost always at the bottom of the SA list, IIRC. When they became the Lions, and the Cheetahs started off in Super Rugby, they were still bottom of the SA list every year, bar one year when the were above the Cheetahs.

Nowadays the general viewpoint in SA is that Frans Ludeke is a useless bumbeling twat who has been riding on the back of Heyneke Meyer's success from 2007, despite being the only SA coach to win two consecutive S14 titles, and a CC title. All of that because of his tenure with the Lions. Fact is that since he was "fired" at the Lions they still did not fare any batter. So, Mitchell not doing any better at the Lions than anybody else is more or less par for the course.

The Lions has always been trying "strange things". They had a foreign coach, Laurie Mains, and then fired him. They tried a successful SA U/19 coach (Loffy), and then fired him, when the crap was actually in the board rooms, and administration, where they practised jungle admin and played politics politics. They tried a "quota coach" (Chester Williams) who was always going to fail. He was never a coach and has never achieved anything as a coach. They got Dick Miur who has also achieved nothing, bar a bit of success at TUKS. Whatever little he achieved was also on the back of somebody else. They got rid of an assistant coach because of "racism" accusations by two players who were crap as well, and used that to hide their own inabilities.

They then got another foreign coach. Mitchell, who also did not really achieve a lot. Didn't he leave the Force under a cloud as well? He then appointed another foreign asst coach, Carlos, and they won the CC and many of us thought that we have the Lions firing at last.

One could easily say point out that the Brumbies are doing way better from an equal crap position, also with a foreign coach. What is the difference then? Jake went back to the basics, and appointed asst coaches who were ex-Brumbies to the core, Larkham and Gregan. Guys who know and understand the ethos of the Brumbies. He even changed the jersey back to the old original Brumbies pattern.

For the Lions to become a force in rugby again they would have to accept, is going to take time and hard work. They are going to have to clean out the house and start from scratch again. They have to accept that they are going to loose players, etc, etc. The players themselves cannot complain too much about loosing out os playing Super Rugby. They were part of the reason why they could be dropping out of Super Rugby. The demise of and departure of the Lions, out of Super Rugby, has nothing to do with the Kings, and has everything to do with the franchise as a whole. Having said that, I am not condoning the way the the Kings and Watson muscled their way in. That is another story altogether, involving lots of scaniving by the Comrades behind the scenes. I am not a conspiracist by any means, but on this one I am sure that there is much more behind the scenes crap than meets the eye.

What coach would take the job? Because whoever it is will, bascially be out of work by next year, because the Lions won't be in Super Rugby. Maybe they should get PDV there....and save the Boks from his madness...

PDV should not get any where near a rugby team. He is a qualified teacher. Maybe he should forget about somebody running after him with a contract to coach rugby, and get out his old board ruler and chalk.

The Lions have not always had consistent results but they have played quite well for most of their Super rugby lifetime. They are still the only SA side to beat the Crusaders in New Zealand and have a host of great results to prove their detractors wrong. The deterioration began when Eloff was sacked. Though Jake in a brief time did work beind the scenes and strengthened their defence, it was unfortunately undone by Muir. Now Mitchell has been exposed and made the Lions a painfully one-dimensional team more reflective of the AB side he used to run. They need someone who can see the big picture, someone with a real long term plan. Unfortunately they will be out next year and the filth from a gutter will be hailed though it will be ruthlessly destroyed. It's too late.

No coach would turn a side containing a handful of useful players into a winning outfit. They just have far too many average players on board.

Not true Saffex, Jake White did it with the Brumbies....they haven't won yet, but they are good enough to at least challenge for the title.

Nonsense, the young players Jake has had to work with at least have talent, we cant say the same about the likes of Deon v/Rensburg, Killian, Cronje, Bondisio, JC v/Rensburg, Bezuidenhout, Cilliers, v/d Merwe, Grobelaar and the host of other sad players they have tried.

The way I understand it, Jake dug in and got that bunch of players together in the few moths that he had available to do that. How long did Mitchell have, and what has he and/or the top brass achieved in that department? They got themselves suckered by the Gumede bunch and brought in Butch James amongst others, and where did that get them?

Saff, Jake took a no-name Brumbies side and coached them into a competitive team. Please don't tell me when the season started you thought the Brumbies even had a sniff at winning the conference? They are well coached, and that is why the team as a whole, is performing above the potential of the individuals in it. And if Jake has unearthed some good raw talent, then cudos to him, that makes him an even more impressive coach.  

Cera, the Lions have been hard hit by injuries, so that could go some way to explaining there dismal season, but after winning the Currie cup there should have been some money to lure players to the Lions union, but that didn't happen...fault of the coach, management, I don't know, but it is still a joke.

I hear what you are saying Bluebok, but this is not the first year that they have been poor. The fact is that they have somehow always managed to stuff up things up. Their admin set-up has always been a shambles. There has always been some kind if in-fighting and they have just been crap. Yes, there were times that the produced great rugby, and there were the odd upset along the road, but they have mostly survived on there reputation as traditionally being one of the "big unions". The reality is what is making it diffucult for them to make out a case agaisnt their relegation, how unfair it may be handled or not. Let me make one thing very clear, once again. I am not in favour of Cheeky Watson and his shenanigans, nor am I in favour of the Kings getting a free pass at all.

The problem is that the Lions are not making it easy for themselves, and the whole bunch of them are responsible for the situation that they have found themselves in, and lets be honest. Had it not been for the RWC, they would not have smelt the CC. The Sharks would have won it hands down.

Disagree, Jake has some class youngsters to work with. The Lions had no money to work with and have not been in a position to buy in quality players

The Lions were overhyped and to the learned fan of the sport it was clear they were never going to have a successful campaign.

Mitch and Spence were doing a great job.

Its difficult competing when 13 of your first choice players are injured!

Especially when you are tryng to prove a point every game.

I still have hope.

Agreed Mitchell is a good coach. Would love to see him with a squad like the Bulls, Sharks or Stormers

Neigh, they did well in the CC only. The CC is never a measure of Super rugby credentials. As for the injuries? The Brumbies lost 16 of their best players at the end of last year and have lost further players to injury. They've been doing much better than the Lions so I will not buy that as an excuse. Besides, it's not the personnel that is the problem, but rather the way they are playing. Even at full strength they just aren't playing a brand of rugby that can be successful. If Mitchell is really the coach you want us all to believe he is then he really should know better. Jake came in just before Muir stepped in and did in fact tighten that defence. Mitchell is as clueless as Plumtree. They were worshipped because they are New Zealanders, both of whom ran away with tail between legs after being exposed elsewhere.