Mike Ruddock

Nick · Post by **Nick** » 21 Mar 2005 17:08

There's obviously a lot of talk going on at the moment about Mike and his career as a coach and the fantastic win last Saturday. The press focus on his early retirement from the game and how he moulded teams from Bective Rangers to Swansea and Leinster and how he inspires players to greater things - even the Dragons are supposed to have benefitted from his brief tenure.
All this just leaves me confused because in his three years at Ebbw we never climbed out of the bottom four, was it that the players weren't good enough? or does a good coach rely on good players to make him shine? When you look at success, Leigh Jones achieved far more than Mike ever did at Ebbw perhaps that's why we never get a mention when they highlight his career.

String · Post by **String** » 21 Mar 2005 19:01

He took Ebbw Vale at the time they were in the top quarter of the league and turned them into relegation candidates 2 years running. The players were definately there when he started. There are also the allegations, some seemingly founded that after he got the newport job whilst still contracted for us he failed to attend or coach a lot of ebbws training towards the end when they were battling against relegation.

Its possible hes one of the coaches that can take already developed players onto better things but lacks the ability to turn an average player into one at the top of his game.

EIA · Post by **EIA** » 21 Mar 2005 21:04

String wrote: Its possible hes one of the coaches that can take already developed players onto better things but lacks the ability to turn an average player into one at the top of his game.

That's always been my definition of a good coach, but it just didn't happen at Ebbw in the Ruddock years. I can't ever remember being so frustrated watching some of the matches during that period.
I remember the set piece play being very predictable too to the extent that the opposition knew exactly what we were planning to do. That style even turned up when Ruddock moved to the Dragons, some matches it was like watching re-runs of Ebbw playing - I remember shouting the moves in one game and nearly got them all right but then again he took quite a few players with him too.
Very interesting post though and one to ponder in seasons to come.