Are the Gunner's new owners brave or barmy?
IAIN MORRISON
Scotland on Sunday reports

ALEX CARRUTHERS is the man leading a revolution in Scottish rugby and, for all the pitfalls he faces, the new Edinburgh Rugby boss looked supremely confident last Thursday as he batted back questions from the assembled members of the rugby press. With the exception of offering unlimited riches for a head coach Carruthers talked a lot of sense and even an unlimited budget for the right coach is good news for at least one man.

Alex insists the Carruthers brothers are in it for the long term and have money to invest, even if he was a little coy about where exactly it was coming from. He is obviously keen to build bridges with the amateur clubs that are still smarting from a decade of dealing with the Union. They will provide Edinburgh Rugby with tomorrow's players so Carruthers brought a peace offering in the form of today's players. In a move that seems to go against everything Frank Hadden is attempting vis-à-vis apprentices, the Edinburgh boss insisted that he would make his young professionals available to the club game.

"You have got to give them game time," he said. "They have come through the club scene and I think it only fair that they put something back.

"We arrive with no baggage and no agendas. I want to open up dialogue with the clubs so they can contribute to the ultimate goal of a 10,000 crowd at Murrayfield. It's a give and take situation. If we really want to engage with these people [the clubs] we have to be seen to be giving them something back in return, and one of those vehicles is obviously the players."

He

insisted that he would be working in the "true spirit of partnership" with the SRU but even if Hadden accepts that Edinburgh's apprentices will play club rugby, the national coach is sure to chafe at his limited access to Edinburgh's international elite.

Carruthers confirmed that their agreement with the SRU stipulated the release of Scotland players only on those international weekends that are sanctioned by the IRB. "They haven't asked for any more," he said before adding: "Where possible we will work with the national coach, where possible."

Last year Hadden rested the majority of his Test squad before international matches to keep them fresh, but if he wants to repeat the experiment he is now reliant upon the goodwill of Edinburgh Rugby - and Carruthers knows full well where his responsibilities lie.

"My appointment is firstly to safeguard the investment, to ensure that Edinburgh Rugby succeed on the field. However we have an undertaking to work with the SRU." Just how long the entente cordiale continues will be the subject of speculation and, with the Gunners facing a tricky looking fixture against the Cardiff Blues eight days before the first autumn international, early November is a good guess.

Carruthers was setting out his stall and it had Edinburgh Rugby written in bold capitals all over it. His biggest issue is persuading his squad that the club is a cause worth fighting for, an end in itself rather than just a stepping stone, and he has his work cut out. By comparing and contrasting Edinburgh with Munster the CEO was inviting more of the latter than the former. Munster is a great model to aspire to but sadly it is light years from the reality down Roseburn way.

"It is important we make that stance that we are Edinburgh Rugby," Carruthers stressed. Earlier he had insisted "first and foremost I am about Edinburgh Rugby" and again, "the players are first and foremost Edinburgh players". That is true, but the secret of future success for his club lies in convincing them, and the reluctant Edinburgh public, of that fact.

Carruthers conceded that his consortium would take advice from the Union regarding appointments and advice is needed. Not one person within the new set-up - chairman Carruthers, director Graham Garvie or managing director Graeme Stirling - has the slightest experience of running a professional rugby club. At this late stage in proceedings there is no guarantee that their new head coach will have the requisite experience either and, to add to a deck already stacked against them, the SRU annual subsidy is well below the £2m mark the Irish and Welsh clubs get from their home unions.

Carruthers promised that if the venture failed it wouldn't be for the want of trying, but for all their admirable enthusiasm it is impossible not to wonder whether the new owners have gauged the true magnitude of the task they have taken on.

Whether the new owners are brave or barmy remains to be seen, but they deserve the public's support and without it the project is doomed. With the Burgess/Logan consortium having left the negotiating table and the Simmers/McKay group still struggling to raise finance should the Carruthers brothers fail, there is no-one left to rescue those who are trying to rescue Scottish professional rugby.

This article was originally posted on 30-Jul-2006, 07:54 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 30-Jul-2006, 07:55.