Playing career Diamond played for his local club
Trafford MV before joining
Sale Sharks as a player in 1989. He played over 390 top class games for Sale. He was also called up to the senior England squad for the
1997 England rugby union tour of Argentina and Australia, however he was ultimately not capped at that level. He played in the hooker position.
Coaching career Diamond became a coach of the Sharks in 2001 with former teammate
Jim Mallinder. Diamond then left Sale and began coaching
England Saxons for the 2002 and 2003
Churchill Cups again alongside Jim Mallinder. Diamond joined Saracens in 2004 as a coach and was praised with bringing many successful players to the club, but was sacked after two and half years after failing to qualify for the
Heineken Cup. In 2007 he teamed up again with Jim Mallinder to head up Northampton Saints recruitment process. He then accepted the Director of Rugby role for the Russian national team, and in 2010, under Diamond's leadership, Russia qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Diamond returned to
Sale Sharks in January 2011 as Director of Sport before taking over as Director of Rugby in 2012. On 8 December 2020 Sale announced that Diamond had left the club with immediate effect for personal reasons. It was later revealed that several family issues were the reason for his departure. On 25 January 2022 it was confirmed he would take charge of the first team with immediate effect following the departure of
Jonathan Thomas. It was also confirmed he would take on the role of Director of Rugby from 2022 to 2023 due to the retirement of
Alan Solomons. His contract at Warriors was terminated along with every other employee on 5 October 2022. ==Personal life==