Paul Turner, Andy Howell and Disciplinary Procedures
This blog is a well known hater of the Western Mail’s rugby reporting. It manages to sensationalise news, the best recently that Shane Williams had offers to move when the main story Shane was trying to get across is he wants to stay at the Ospreys. It takes a special kind of ‘talent’ (for want of a better word) to write half the trash that they do.
It is also true that this blog is not particularly impressed with Paul Turner. Too many people have congratulated him in recent years for doing well on a limited budget, for improving them – hell he even somehow won ‘coach of the year’ in the Magners League last season. When the ‘improvement’ has been winning one more game, a failure to win away from home, not qualifying in Europe and general all round mediocrity (that should get the 10 Dragons fans annoyed with me).
Paul Turner vs Andy Howell
But Turner has gone up in our estimation now – after threatening to knock out Andy Howell. Andy Howell, even for a Western Mail rugby writer (reporter would have been pushing it too far as frankly he isn’t exactly accurate in his ‘reporting’ of stories), is a bit of a shocker – doing all he can to twist and sensationalise every story.
At a recent press conference Howell did ask some sensible questions about the Dragons complete and utter lack of anything approaching form (which just fits them in with all Welsh rugby teams to be honest) and whether Turner thought he was the man to turn that around.
This was met with Turner ejecting Howell from the press conference and threatening to ‘sort him out’ himself. Whilst Howell’s questions were actually worthwhile (though I have doubts the story he would have written about the answers would have been) it is fantastic to see a manager prepared to tell the Western Mail where to go.
Disciplinary
Unfortunately it looks like the Dragons board don’t see it that way. Reports in the Western Mail suggest Turner has quit but since I trust them as much as I trust a zombie that promises it has no interest in eating my brains (and I am more likely to run into one of them than I am an accurate Western Mail story) I will wait until we get more official confirmation (thoough I suspect the Fail may have got this one right). The Dragons website is reporting that Paul Turner is now suspended from duties with immediate effect, pending a disciplinary investigation.
For me though this is daft. They should just give him the medal he deserves and get on with it.
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Wow, I haven’t laughed like that in some time! The Fail certainly plumb the depths of ludicrous sensationalising more often than not so the reporter was probably hoping to get a black eye to get his mug shot on the back page!
When it comes to the Fail the options tend to be either laugh or cry!!
Sad day for Welsh rugby (nothing new there) when a snidey little runt from a publication which is an embarrasment to Wales is indirectly responsible for forcing a decent and honourable man out of a difficult job he has performed very well and with dignity. Shame on NGD for not supporting Paul Turner who was guilty of no more than displaying a bit of passion.
I totally agree with the reporter of the western mail, Paul Turner, deserved being sacked or so say going on mutual agreement. After all it was
just not what happened in the press conference, it began firstly swearing at the dragons fan’s and then following the press conference having an altercation with someone else which led to this. Additionally, Howell was only asking a question that probably everyone else was thinking and were too cowardly to ask.