Diamond rescued Sharks from abyss but courted controversy

After Steve Diamond’s shock departure, Jon Newcombe looks at the highs and lows of his time as DoR of Sale Sharks

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SALE SHARKS were rock bottom of the Premiership and staring into the abyss when Steve Diamond took over as head coach at the end of December 2012.

More often than not – ten times out of 14 up to that point – the team entering the festive period in 12th place would go on to be relegated.

Only London Irish in 1997/98, Newcastle (2002/03), Northampton (2004/05) and Leeds (2009/10) had bucked the trend.

The Sharks were a shambles with Bryan Redpath having been demoted earlier in the season and John Mitchell coming and going in a matter of weeks. Sale had won only one of their first 11 games and had just been thumped 62-0 by Toulon in Europe.

Diamond had overseen the mess as CEO but in swapping the boardroom for his natural habitat of the boot room, the former Sale hooker managed to instigate a momentous turnaround. Sale finished the Premiership in 10th, 12 points clear of the trap door, with six wins and a draw in the second half of the campaign. Having saved the club from their first-ever relegation, Diamond decided to stay in the job on a permanent basis.

With his and the club’s fortunes now interwoven, the 52-year-old began his odyssey of modelling Sale into rugby’s version of ‘the northern powerhouse’. That objective is still some way off being achieved but he can look back with great pride at a win percentage of 49 from his 175 Premiership games in charge.

SHINING DIAMOND

Saving the club from relegation