Wales: Mike Phillips calls for Warren Gatland to be ‘kicked out’ as he is just ‘laughing all the way to the bank’
Split with Warren Gatland and Mike Phillips.
Former Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips has called for head coach Warren Gatland to be sacked after the country suffered their 10th defeat in a row, losing 24-19 to Fiji on Saturday.
Things have certainly not gone to plan since Gatland took over struggling Wales from Wayne Pivac in December 2022.
Just about the only thing to show is a World Cup quarter-final in a tenure which has included a wooden spoon and fifth-place finish in the two Six Nations since his return, a series loss in Australia and now the first defeat to Fiji in Cardiff.
Rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that it was the 10th loss on the bounce, equalling their record-worst run. Naturally, this has led to much discussion about whether or not Gatland is the right man to lead the side.
Wales v Fiji: Five takeaways as ‘horrendous lapses’ cost Warren Gatland’s men dearly
“Laughing to the bank”
Phillips, who had great success during Gatland’s first stint with Wales, joined the debate through a post on X calling out his former boss for “laughing to the bank” without winning any game.
“Loads of positives yeah, you’re on 600k a year and don’t even have to win! How the WRU bring this guy back is just nuts! Laughing all the way to the bank,” the post wrote.
When I see this guy talking about family makes me cringe. Did he speak to me at the end of my career, did he f! I won for this guy.
This bloke is only out for himself, and it kills me to see all this bullshit praise he’s getting. He deserves to be kicked out, like he did to so…— Mike Phillips (@mikephillips009) November 11, 2024
The 42-year-old did not stop there, responding to the tweet accusing Gatland of not giving him a good enough farewell and kicking out great Welsh players.
“When I see this guy talking about family makes me cringe. Did he speak to me at the end of my career, did he f! I won for this guy. This bloke is only out for himself, and it kills me to see all this bullsh*** praise he’s getting. He deserves to be kicked out, like he did to so many quality Welsh players.”
Things do not get much easier for Wales as they welcome the Wallabies to Cardiff this weekend with Joe Schmidt’s side finally finding their feet with a sensational win over England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Gatland remains in the job but surely another loss could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
