Edinburgh must draw up "a whole new vision" for the club to shed their reputation as perennial underachievers, according to former Scotland hooker Fraser Brown.
Edinburgh must draw up "a whole new vision" for the club to shed their reputation as perennial underachievers, according to former Scotland hooker Fraser Brown.
Head coach Sean Everitt has set his team a target of a top-four finish in the United Rugby Championship this season, with prop Paul Hill even suggesting they could challenge for the title.
But the capital side lost to Zebre, traditionally among the weakest sides in the competition, following a desperately poor performance on the opening weekend.
That has heightened fears among Edinburgh fans that their team, despite boasting a host of established Scotland internationals, are set for another season of disappointment.
"You look at the backdrop of Edinburgh rugby in a brilliant city with a huge rugby following, massive abundance of resources in terms of rugby in the city, a massive abundance of resources in terms of potential finance and support in the city," Brown told the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast.
"If someone from a managing director point of view, or a head coach point of view, can get Edinburgh Rugby to tick, that is a potential massive growth club.
"But I think it's going to take a long time and I think you have to give someone time and the freedom to go and carve things up, give them time to try and create a club in a completely brand new image.
"I thought this probably two or three years ago and I still think it now - that's exactly what Edinburgh needs.
"I think looking for a sticking plaster of a new head coach or a new attack coach, I just don't think that's what the club needs. I think it needs a whole new vision and a whole redevelopment plan."
'The issues at Edinburgh are systemic'
After a poor run of form in the first half of last season, Everitt appeared to be under pressure before a late season upturn in performances and results took Edinburgh to the URC quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.
The South African's contract expires at the end of the season and he confirmed he has yet to receive an offer of a new deal from Scottish Rugby.
Results in the next few months could determine Everitt's future, but Brown believes Edinburgh's problems run deeper than just the head coach.
"Edinburgh seem to be going between either a Richard Cockerill character, where they have to be shouted at and it's very authoritarian all the time, or a Mike Blair or Sean Everitt character," Brown, who started his career with Edinburgh before forging his reputation at Glasgow Warriors, said.
"It just seems like they can't quite hit that sweet spot in the middle. At the same time, you can't forget that's a squad packed full of Scotland starters.
"Why is it that they can't get results? They can get the one-off, the big results. We saw that in the run at the end of last season, getting into European play-offs, but they don't seem to be able to get consistency throughout the week from game to game. I don't think that's just a coaching issue.
"We can't just keep getting into that kind of cycle of new head coach, get rid of the head coach, new head coach, get rid of the head coach. There is something kind of systemic there."
Category: General Sports
