SUNDAY TIMES REPORTS

McKie denies bias against Warriors
Supremo Gordon McKie refutes claims that Edinburgh elitism influenced the decision to offer Sean Lineen only the post of head coach at Glasgow. By Mark Palmer


GORDON McKIE, chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union, last night angrily rejected suggestions that there was anything untoward in his controversial appointment of Sean Lineen as head coach at Glasgow Warriors, revealing he would have been “perfectly happy” for the 29-cap former centre to take charge of Edinburgh had the need for change in the west not been so pressing.
McKie’s decision to have Lineen succeed Hugh Campbell, sacked last Tuesday after overseeing just four Celtic League wins this season, and to simultaneously re-advertise the Edinburgh job for which the New Zealander was a leading candidate, was perceived in some quarters as further evidence of Murrayfield favouritism for the Gunners, traditionally the best-funded Scottish team.



McKie, however, has moved to clarify that circumstance, not capability, was behind his desire to keep Lineen in Glasgow. “I’m sure Sean could have done a marvellous job for Edinburgh, but I took the view that Glasgow’s needs were more urgent than Edinburgh’s,” he said. “Sean knows what’s wrong, and is the best guy to fix it. Bringing Sean to Edinburgh, and a completely new guy to Glasgow, would have been completely hotch-potch. If there were two Seans, one could do Glasgow, and one could do Edinburgh. As it was, there was effectively one candidate for two jobs.”

Two fresh applications have been received for the Gunners post since McKie’s announcement.

Lineen, whose contract features performance-related elements, has been promised the requisite resources to enable the Warriors to compete with their east-coast rivals as genuine contenders for the Celtic League title. A main sponsor for the competition, which David Jordan, the tournament director, expects to announce “in the next two or three weeks” would supplement union funding to a small degree. Glasgow’s budgetary restrictions were such last summer that long-term targets like Xavier Rush, the New Zealand No 8, could not be persuaded aboard, but McKie has pledged to “prioritise” expenditure in an organisation whose debt level remains stubbornly wedged at £23m.

“There’s no bucket of gold, but I know I need to find the money, within reason, that makes sure Sean has the opportunity to get Glasgow moving in the right direction again,” he said.

McKie went on to concede that poor results were not the only factor in Campbell’s demise. “From November it was clear things were getting worse, in terms of performances, morale and attendances,” he said. “Word travels, particularly when people are unhappy. People were increasingly disillusioned with the way Glasgow were being coached, there was a deepening malaise within the place, and I can’t ignore that.

“Sean will bring charisma, energy and enthusiasm that have not been there. He will bring a style of leadership that has been lacking.”

Kenny Logan, the former Scotland wing who played out his last professional season with Glasgow last year, believes Campbell lacked the personality to turn the side into a persuasive force. “He’s a good lad and a good coach, but I don’t know if he is a head coach,” he said. “The head coach needs a unique mentality. Warren Gatland (the hugely successful Kiwi whom Logan worked under at Wasps) was liked, but disliked, and ultimately respected by the players. Even when we were doing well, you never knew what he was thinking. In Scotland, I found a nicey-nicey attitude. We’d get beat by 30 points, and the coach would be saying, ‘yeah, but let’s look at all the good things.’ Hugh being sacked was the first instance of someone really shouting their mouths off at what was going on, and there are a lot of players at Glasgow who needed that earlier.”

McKie, meanwhile, has outlined the reasoning behind keeping Scotland’s game against the Barbarians in Edinburgh next month, despite Pittodrie having hosted the fixture so successfully last year. The union are confident that the Aberdeen ground’s 21,000 seats would not have been sufficient to cope with the demand to see Frank Hadden’s resurgent team at £10 a head. “There is a good vibe about the Scottish game at the moment, and we’re sure people will want to be part of that,” said McKie.

This article was posted on 2-Apr-2006, 13:20 by Hugh Barrow.