Sharks owner Kennedy gets his teeth into SRU

A long-time critic of the Scottish Rugby Union's attempts to cope with professional rugby, his regular offers of help and advice were shunned by Murrayfield, until this year. The Edinburgh-born owner of Sale Sharks, the high-flying Guinness Premiership side, was in June appointed a non-executive director on the Scottish Rugby Board, and, if nothing else, his presence has brightened up the monthly board meetings.

A bright, passionate character, who favours an open-neck shirt over starched collar and tie, Kennedy is a man who seems to have an unlimited supply of progressive initiatives. Some may not work, but others are gems, and as a result he has built a business empire with an annual turnover of 450 million. He was one of the owner's of Stockport County Football Club until a transfer of power to a supporters' trust during the summer, and a British football rich list earlier this year saw him feature at No18 with a 208 million fortune.

Kennedy has succeeded in intensely competitive fields such as double glazing and kitchen design, and that he took on a dying rugby club in the unfashionable north-west of England merely underlines his penchant for extreme challenges.

He shrugs at the suggestion he has again taken on an Everest-like test by joining the SRU, and remains typical unflappable. He said: "You don't take a business that has been losing millions of pounds for many years and magically turn it around - it takes change, good management, creativity and ambition. So that's the first thing on the agenda for the board, but, crucially, this board believes it can be turned around.

"I thought seriously about whether I would become involved knowing the problems they've had here, but the new set-up persuaded me. The key was the personnel they had on the executive board and also how the new structure was to operate, with the power invested in that board, and the fact that Scottish rugby has finally accepted that the game has to be run by an executive team. That was absolutely vital - otherwise we'd have a toothless lion.

"Gordon McKie [chief executive] is a first-class lad, who I believe, with Allan Munro [chairman], Andy Irvine [president] and the rest of the board, will sort out the major problem of the debt. Once you have a business that isn't losing money and generates cash then you survive - the first rule of business is to stay in business."

Many rugby supporters have grown weary of business-speak, wondering where the game of rugby falls in the latest accountant's priorities. But where Kennedy differs from his predecessors at Murrayfield is that he has made a great success of a rugby club, by blending business acumen and sporting passion in a way few believed was possible.

He bought Sale when they were heading for the second division, losing 2million a year and had crowds of 1,200. After turning the club around and reaching the crowd limits at their traditional home, he bought Stockport County to provide Sale with better facilities. Manchester now has a rugby team winning domestic and European trophies, attracting around 10,000 per game and turning a profit. Kennedy will often be seen huddled among the crowd at Edgeley Park in a thick coat and cap, hiding from the corporate prawn sandwich-munchers he has courted to simply savour the rugby.

"There are similarities with what we've done at Sale to the problems Scottish rugby has faced, and while this is not one club there are similar routes to moving forward.

"The rugby on the park and the business of it have to be flourishing - this can't be just about reducing costs. If you say that business people here haven't developed the rugby then they haven't been real business people. Fundamentally, in our business the income comes from the rugby on the field, so it is critical for the rugby to be successful otherwise you don't have a business.

"Having good accountants is not enough. They might cut costs and stop the money going out, but who will create the money coming in? You need creative marketing and business people who understand that success on the park will lead to Murrayfield filling and better sponsorship deals. If you're winning on the park the business model will work, but if not it collapses.

"So, you have to be efficient, productive, invest in the future, stay ahead of the game, and so if the pro clubs are going to be successful and produce the level of talent we need at international level then we have to get the model right for the pro clubs to be profitable. Then, they can invest more in training, developing and conditioning players which leads to them being more successful again.

"I believe the pro clubs have to be the legs of the table in Scottish rugby because it is they we need to produce a steady flow of top-quality international players that can compete with the best in the world, so we have to look to make them commercially self-sufficient. That is the challenge."

How much realism exists within Kennedy's thinking depends probably on how much one believes Kennedy. The SRU did not believe him in the late 1990s when he offered to buy Edinburgh, but as one watches Sale challenge for titles it is tempting to imagine where the team representing the Scottish capital might have been now had the Murrayfield doors been opened then.

As a non-executive director, Kennedy gives up just a day a month of his time at present, freely, but he has no plans to leave any time soon.

He has already developed a rapport with his fellow executives and insists that, while there are no quick fixes, Scottish rugby is a ship that can be turned around.

"I have an idea in the back of my head and these guys have ideas, and we are looking to thrash out a formula that could lead to what we're trying to achieve, which is creating professional teams which can really work at a high level.

"One thing I've learned in life is that anything is possible. If you and I decided to go into manufacturing sugar cubes there is a way that we could develop a business plan and attack the market to make profits and be successful. If you surround yourselves with the right people you can make it successful and that's the same for Sale and Scottish rugby.

"Rugby and what is on the park is like the marketing and product part of your business. The conference, banqueting, meals and everything else is just supplementary income; your main sales product is going out there and playing to a high level, competing and winning on the park. People told me I couldn't do it at Sale and I'm happy with what we've achieved in the last four years there. I hope I can help Scottish rugby because while I'm not only coming into this from a spiritual, patriotic sense of being a Scot and proud supporter, that, of course, is there."