PLAYER REVOLT STUNS SALE

Graham Walker

by sport reporter Mike Crockett

A PLAYER revolt at Heywood Road last week ended in a vote of no confidence in director of rugby John Mitchell, and crisis talks between team manager Adrian Hadley, and the Sale players.

The decision was reached at a player meeting early last week, and team manager Adrian Hadley was forced to meet with the players in an attempt to quell the uprising.

It seems to have worked as one source at Heywood Road said, "There's a sort of an uneasy truce here just now."

It is understood that the players are unhappy about the multi-role he was performing at the club, a role which is quite rare in rugby.

In the absence of chief executive Howard Thomas, Mitchell would have been the one players went to, to negotiate their contract. Given that Mitchell is also coach, this would certainly have put him in a difficult position.

Also, the amount of time Mitchell spends as forward's coach for England was causing concern for the players.

Hadley instructed the players to forget the whole affair and focus on the job in hand, at a meeting on Friday.

"It's imperative that I sit down with the players and tell them to forget everything happening off the field," he said, before Sunday's game against West Hartlepool

"We lost seven games on the trot at one stage, so everything's not rosy, but at the end of the day, they are professional players and they are paid to do job, and they have to put everything off the field out of their minds."

A club spokesman said, "It has been a very difficult week at Sale.

"Hopefully, the matter will be resolved now that the new chief executive, Graham Walker, has arrived at Heywood Road.

"One of his first jobs will be to take a long, hard look at the playing structure at the club."

Once a director at advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi, Scotsman Walker has been involved in sports marketing for some years, and comes to Heywood Road from his position as commercial director for the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

He is expected to look at Sale's hefty wage bill first, and then look at the structure of rugby side of things.

Some good news for Walker, who took up his new position on Wednesday, is that English Clubs are to take part in European competition again next year.

Sale will be competing in the less-lucrative European Shield, but the money coming from it has still been put at around £400,000.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.