When Paul Deacon was shown the door by Sale at the end of last season, by his own admission he was \u201cgutted\u201d and \u201csaddened\u201d.<\/p>\n
The former rugby league star, who enjoyed a glittering career at Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors, had spent 10 years at the Sharks as attack coach.<\/p>\n
He served under two directors of rugby \u2013 Steve Diamond and Alex Sanderson \u2013 and even had a brief spell in the top job when Diamond left the club in December 2020.<\/p>\n
Different direction<\/p>\n
But Deacon\u2019s contract was not renewed at the end of last term and Joe Ford<\/a> \u2013 elder brother of Sale and England fly-half George \u2013 was appointed as his successor.<\/p>\n Deacon recently rejoined Wigan Warriors in a short-term coaching role until the end of the current Super League season and is enjoying being back at his hometown club, where he began his coaching career.<\/p>\n When asked about his departure from Sale<\/a>, the 46-year-old revealed: \u201cIt was Sale\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cMy contract was up at the end of the season and they decided to go in a different direction.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll not lie, I was a little bit gutted and saddened by it but 10 years is a long time to be at one club.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably been good for me to move as well if I\u2019m being truly honest.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve no hard feelings against Sale whatsoever and it was amicable, but it was their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Deacon has returned to his native code a far better coach for his experience at Sale.<\/p>\n Prem club double down on Argentina incomings as forward at \u2018great stage\u2019 of career signs deal<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWithout a doubt, and that was one of the reasons for coaching in rugby union \u2013 to make me better,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cYou gain experience, you coach with different coaches, see how they get their messages across and the philosophies they have.<\/p>\n \u201cYou take bits from them all and I\u2019ve tried to do that all my career, both as a player and a coach.<\/p>\n \u201cI learnt a lot from working under Steve Diamond and Alex Sanderson but I learned most from the players because they\u2019re the ones at the coalface doing it on the field.<\/p>\n \u201cI coached players such as Danny Cipriani, Faf de Klerk, George Ford and the Curry twins.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen the Currys come through the Academy to play for England and obviously Tom has become a hugely influential player for the British and Irish Lions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe list goes on and there are so many players I could mention who helped to bring me on as a coach because, a lot of the time, the best players challenge you.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to know why we are doing certain things and that\u2019s a challenge as a coach as well but I like that because you learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n