The recently departed Harlequins coach brought rigour and organisation but the club stands for something different
“There are only two types of manager: those who have been sacked and those who will be sacked in the future.” Howard Wilkinson, the last English manager to win the top-flight league title with Leeds in 1992, was talking about football, but rugby union has long been part of the sack race.
It was even in the amateur era. But the difference then was it did not cost anything to get rid of a coach, which is why in Wales there was a period when they tended to last a season: autumn, winter, spring and even summer. Payoffs make dismissals more costly, but when Harlequins parted company with head of rugby Paul Gustard last week it was six months before the end of his contract and his successor will not be appointed until the summer.
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