Wanted: chief executive who can balance books - 'but with more emphasis on rugby'

THERE will be a temptation in some quarters to paint Scottish rugby again as a sport in crisis, but the real picture to emerge in the wake of the departure of chief executive Gordon McKie will be quite the opposite.

Much of that will be down to McKie himself. When he was suggested by HBoS as a potential candidate for the SRU in 2005, the Murrayfield ship was listing and Allan Munro and Andy Irvine, the executive chairman and president, viewed McKie as the man for righting it.

The fact that he and finance director Eamon Hegarty did so with some tough and unpopular decisions, and a great attention to efficient organisation, is what leaves the SRU in a healthier and more attractive position as it seeks his replacement. Amidst the warranted criticism, the duo must be praised for that.

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But at the heart of the criticism was the reality that while McKie and Hegarty had a flair for figures they lacked the imagination and understanding to market and improve the rugby side of a business that is essentially dependent on rugby.

Ian McLauchlan, the SRU president, said yesterday: "Gordon McKie has done a good job and it's time to move on. The finances have stabilised which is down to Gordon, but now we need someone to build the rugby side of it.

"We have to be mindful that the finances have to be looked after as well - but with more emphasis on rugby."

Jock Millican has stepped in as acting chief executive and the former Scottish & Newcastle logistics chief and board member, and now business management adviser, may be tempted to go for the role full-time. One imagines he might first have to explain to tomorrow's scheduled board meeting why he, and several others, backed McKie on virtually every decision and failed for so long to grasp the mood on the ground.

There will not be a lack of candidates for McKie's vacated office. There are plenty of leading Scottish businessmen and women with a passion for rugby, including an ample amount in Edinburgh alone.

The board will be tempted to seek a strong rugby influence, in response to McKie's troubles, but a good chief executive can appoint good rugby people and delegate to them. McKie refused to appoint a director of rugby for nearly five years.

Crucially, none of the Murrayfield power-brokers in recent years - McKie, Hegarty, Graham Lowe, Andy Robinson, Andy Irvine and Allan Munro - have had any deep involvement in Scottish rugby over the past 20 years. It is quite a change to the days when Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer steered the ship. A good balance of skills and knowledge is still required at the helm.

John Steele could be a candidate, the former London Scottish coach having both rugby and sports business acumen and now looking for work.The respected Steele moved from the chief executive's chair at UK Sport to the equivalent post at the RFU last year, but lost his job last week over the RFU's desire to bring Sir Clive Woodward back to English rugby. He has spent little time in Scotland, but the chance to follow Robinson's route back to the top level of rugby could be attractive and that particular RFU 'cast-off' has not done too badly up here.

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It is a massive decision for the SRU, because while the sport is far from in crisis many still underestimate the size of the challenge for a country of so few players, so few rugby followers and so relative meagre funds, to compete in the professional game - one that, aside from fleeting highs, has proven beyond the SRU for the past 15 years.

The challenges remain the same this morning as they did yesterday: finding new investment, attracting funding and exposure from broadcasters, strengthening the pro teams, regenerating diminished interest in pro rugby, bridging the gap between club and pro levels, and improving schools and youth rugby for a start.

There are many ideas out there, however, amidst a lot of great work going on in Scottish rugby, inside the SRU and out. What has changed this morning is the return of hope brought by a fresh start, that a change of leadership could at least breathe new life into the possibilities of Scottish rugby growing again.