THE HERALD REPORTS

Warriors appoint leading city councillor to board
KEVIN FERRIE October 18 2006
Glasgow Warriors have moved to strengthen links with the City Council by appointing a leading council figure to their board.
John Lynch, the culture and leisure services convener, was heavily involved in negotiations with the Scottish Rugby Union to take the team to Scotstoun and, while those fell through earlier this year, his willingness to take on this role indicates there are no hard feelings over the failed proposal.
He was one of three men appointed to the Warriors board yesterday along with Archie Ferguson, a member of the Scottish Rugby Board, and Bill Nolan, Scotland's International Rugby Board representative.
In appointing the trio, Charles Shaw, the Glasgow board chairman, acknowledged Lynch's involvement would be seen as particularly significant.
"He is a clear thinker and a good operator who knows the area we are working in," said Shaw. "My view is that Glasgow rugby should be closely engaged with the community. We can, for example, play a part in promoting the health agenda and the fitness agenda, while we are also working towards the Commonwealth Games."
Shaw's reference to the Games invited questioning on the subject of moving the Warriors to Scotstoun Stadium, which is being redeveloped as part of Glasgow's 2014 bid. Earlier this year, the SRU reluctantly pulled out of a deal to become the anchor tenant at the stadium because it could not make the necessary financial commitment, such is Murrayfield's cash crisis.
In their recent failed bid to raise the capital to take ownership of the Warriors, businessmen David Mackay and Brian Simmers were also looking to take the team to Scotstoun.
"We haven't talked about that yet but it's a live subject," Shaw said. "The background is well known and well documented and it may well be a possibility for the future. Not being able to commit to something at the moment doesn't mean they will never be able to."
The Warriors chairman also said he intends to appoint two further non-executive board members, one of whom will be a fan while the other is likely to have commercial expertise and welcomed yesterday's news that the SRU will outsource its retail and merchandising business in a five-year deal with Greaves Sports.
"Their appointment can only be helpful to us because, as a Glasgow-based business, their involvement will be very useful in building rugby's profile here."
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This article was originally posted on 18-Oct-2006, 08:09 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 18-Oct-2006, 08:15.