Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

awec wrote: »

Info from the UR information night with Logan (post pilfered from UAFC):


The only mention of bar passes was when one guy asked a question about bringing a guest, not possible according to Fit as they are under pressure by the regulatory body as never before & the last thing we can afford is to have them reduce capacity, if they do that its done in 5% increments so nearly 1000 cut in capacity a go. Approved maximum capacity is 18196.

Anyway, if I remember the issues be spoke on it went like this:

- Humphreys, major shock to Fit, he knew on the Tuesday, he asked Humphreys for time to consider the situation. Gordon Hamilton was on holiday & Fit wanted to consult him as head of the pro game committee. Then Glaws precipitated the whole announcement by threatening to go ahead with their own announcement. He was asked did they offer Humph money to stay, reply " He did not offer us the opportunity to make any offer" Doesn't seem much in written form but I picked up on that as the first sign of irritation. He also of course made a comment about hoping to meet Gloucester before long.

He also said that contrary to popular myth that Humphreys has a 6 month period of notice, is still in place as he has much work to do in relation to contracts and that he will not be released to Glaws until Ulster are happy to agree.

He also made the comment for the future of the DOR job that Humph was very much a hand on the rear of the tiller, that he was not involved in selection or style of play. He said that we will not rush into things but that there is a feeling that the new DOR will be more hands to the front of the tiller and more involved in coaching. Not quite the words but that was the meaning.

He did say that some decisions need to be taken within the next three weeks, two weeks after the players return to pre-season for then they start rugby rather than fitness work & they need to know what is happening. I took that to mean an interim appointment is a cert.

On players he made me convinced that he hangs on every word I write here. He said exactly what I've said about Afoa Muller & Court. Gushing about Johann off course, indeed he said they tried hard to keep him in a coaching capacity and that he hoped that may happen in the future.

Afoa: nice guy, was magnificent for a season and a quarter, mentioned the wife, the deaths of relatives & that he was definitely not the player we had when he arrived. Interestingly he said Afoa has serious ongoing injury issues then said, "oh well that's not our problem any more, that's David Humphreys problem".

Muller: he has been playing on pride & commitment this season, could only do about 50% of the training expected, could not lift weights above his head and generally was feck "running on empty".

TC: great servant and very good guy but he is now 34. Black had overtaken him.

On those replacing them, he said they have been irritated to hear that Herbst is 3rd choice at his club, he insisted that he was rated 3rd TH in SA and that both Muller & John Plumtree have assessed Herbst for Ulster & both are extremely positive.

Muller & Plumtree have similarly assessed Van der Man, Plumtree has coached him & again they were both very very positive.

On "Dave" Murphy they expect a decent player & on Dave Ryan Munster wanted him back apparently :shock: but we got him. He mentioned that both Butterworth & Reidy are playing a higher level of rugby than Sean Doyle was when they brought him over. Interesting I thought. He mentioned that Doyle was a good player on slow pitches & mentioned a couple of games but that he was a worry on a fact track.

His conclusion was that he doesn't feel we will be weaker than this season for the reasons on Afoa Muller & Court. I've pondered that & its a time will tell job, but I see his reasoning. He also said of the departing players, there were 2 they would have liked to keep, no names of course.

Kingspan: If Ravenhill were retained in the name it would have taken a huge amount out of the deal. Mentioned he finds it hard not to call it Ravenhill but that he hopes fans will try to put the name out of their minds and eventually use Kingspan in fairness to a very good & long term sponsor. Mentioned a lot about the financial standing of Kingspan & said that they are a high end sponsor, most importantly paying in & around what the suggested value that advisors had placed on the naming rights.

Said that both Munster & Leinster have wanted to sell naming rights & haven't come close & that we are one of 4 clubs form 38 in Europe who have managed to attract a sponsor. Didn't specify but when asked if it is possible to sell naming rights for stands that there are two areas where they have agreed a couple of potential sponsorships with Kingspan but though not specific the impression was they won't be big deals.

He said that most sponsorship deals were considerably less than the papers report. Said that the BT sponsorship of Scottish Rugby is nowhere near the reported figure but at least it's much better than the previous shirt sponsorship on Weegies jumpers which he said was with a solar energy company and was worth £1 per year on a three year deal, they took it because they were embarrassed not to have a shirt sponsor. :shock:

Capacity, said they still have £1.7 million of work to do on the stadium, large chunk on the Nevin Spene Centre, so it is & has been a building site for more than a year. They intend to "grow into the stadium" starting at 17000 and increase to 18200 over the coming season. Mention that there are several areas where they are still getting staff used to the new equipment. For example the screens have the capability to have the time & score but they haven't had time to get somebody clued in to set it up because so much has been happening. Spoke a few times of "growing into the stadium". Similarly with the PA system.

The pitch, somebody mentioned that Anscombe had been critical. Fit, without using the words, said that he didn't know what he was talking about. Apparently they were unable to do the usual maintenance last summer because it was their big chance to get lots of building done with not having to get the stadium ready for a match. Also there was a huge amount of dust on the pitch and he said they nearly lost the pitch. Doesn't expect problems after the maintenance regime this summer.

I raised the issue of the sub-standard bar service. Said that for the huge amount of the season they had large crowds effectively using a facility intended for about 4-5000 right up until the Leinster game.

Sponsorship of the league - effectively chicken feed, little or no impact.

Wages, said there is an intention to match what happens in England & that they are looking to raise maybe £7M more over the next 3 years over planned income ( I assumed the surplus in planned attendance figures (8000 was it?) & much higher in fact to produce the extra) to ensure we are able to do so.

That's as much as I can remember.

Very very warm round of applause for him at the end. He is good at that stuff. Some might say there wasn't a single incisive question all night but perhaps he headed that off by being up front about all the issues when he spoke rather than trying to sell bar passes.

Winters wrote: »

Awec, was that a typo or were Glasgow sponsored for £1?

RoundBox11 wrote: »

What are the peoples thoughts regarding Ruaidhrí Murphy coming over? Is he a loosehead or tighthead? Surely he would have a better chance of making it as a prop in Australia? Particularly at loosehead with all the talent in Ireland at the moment.

jacothelad wrote: »

Declan Fitzpatrick's 'heart' problems were actually and embarrassingly due to him being daft enough to take a legal caffeine supplement. Apparently he never did before but some of the other guys do. It had a very adverse effect.

CatFromHue wrote: »

He had to leave Oz as the mental problems coming from the constant mispronunciation of his name where getting too much for him :pac:

danthefan wrote: »

Over the counter pain medication (Neurofen, paracetamol, etc) often contains caffeine also.

.ak wrote: »

*cough*

bilston wrote: »

Sounds like those naughty dogs in the know on UAFC are suggesting that Anscombe may be a goner, and possibly as early as next week.

Interesting...mischief making or relaying fact...we will see over the next week I suppose...