EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS
BILL LOTHIAN ([email protected])
ACCORDING to his website Bob Carruthers' "main speciality" is as a producer of historical documentaries.

As sporting dramas go the Edinburgh Rugby owner could well have a blockbuster on his hands should he decide to script the inside story of a dispute involving the club and Murrayfield bosses which first began to surface back in early November last year.

Arriving at a seemingly routine weekly conference to announce team selection members of the media were intercepted and handed a statement referring to a disagreement over the distribution of revenues from stadium bar facilities.

When it was realised that the same bar would not be in operation for a match just 24 hours away the rumour machine moved into overdrive amidst speculation that Edinburgh had been barred from the main hospitality area; in fact there was a long-standing arrangement to host a wine tasting festival.

Not that Edinburgh and the SRU needed to set down a case or two to toast each others' health for, in the weeks and months ahead, the relationship would grow increasingly fraught.

Today it has reached a situation where the club are under orders to quit their home ground - and the governing body are about to be served court papers claiming they owe not just those bar takings but also competition revenues amounting to several million pounds.

So, where did it all go wrong from that July date just over a year ago when SRU chief executive Gordon McKie took obvious pride in announcing that a ground-breaking deal had seen Bob Carruthers, represented by his brother and business partner, Alex, take over the club thereby freeing up cash to sustain two other professional teams in Scotland?

There are two schools of thought with Scottish rugby opinion polarised as rarely before.

As part of the deal which brought the Carruthers on board it was announced that exclusive rights to stage concerts at Murrayfield had been ceded.

Here I am in possession of an e-mail stating that on May 26 this year The Who would play the home of Scottish Rugby. Similarly, another headline act, Aerosmith, were due to pitch up on June 28. Neither concert materialised and critics of the avuncular Bob Carruthers, one of whose most endearing features is an unbridled passion for every task he undertakes, have seized on this fact to claim he is struggling to underwrite his investment.

It was a view being advanced by a prominent internationalist in my golf club car park a few days ago - I mention this to show the intrigue is easily transcending rugby - although Mr Carruthers vehemently denies that his concert business is linked to the fortunes of the rugby club in any way.

On the other side of the coin supporters of Carruthers - or are they professional establishment bashers? - claim the club's goose under its present management was cooked on March 16 this year. That was the date on which Holyrood railed against a council bid to use Murrayfield's training pitches as a flood plain for the adjacent Water of Leith.

Within days McKie had confirmed that land could be sold to reduce the governing body's debt and that a "memorandum of understanding" has been agreed with the Miller Group by a previous regime with a view to making better use of the site.

What this meant was that the SRU, coupled with a decision to scrap the Borders team, were in a position to finance a team in each of the main two cities thereby tapping into annual revenues amounting to some £2.5m per club from the European Cup alone.

Additionally, a recent decision by Alex Salmond's Executive to waive the alcohol ban at Murrayfield may also have further contributed to the SRU's apparent new-found buoyancy.

Problem was what to do about the fact they had already sold out to Carruthers?

Regardless of the rights and wrongs what has become increasingly clear is that in the propaganda war Carruthers has invariably been on the end of a telephone line with a juicy quote winning hearts and minds hands down.

Until, that is, late this week...

Just as that giant of the fairways Tom Watson was to reveal after his Seniors Open triumph at Muirfield last weekend that his big breakthrough came when he decided to stop fighting against links golf and decide to work with it, the SRU, in a remarkable change of tack, came out from under the bed and started arguing its case in public. First stop was the Union's 200-odd member clubs who were mailed by president George Jack refuting some of Carruthers' allegations about the likelihood of having to sell Murrayfield to fight the case in court.

Then, in a more striking aspect of a charm offensive, McKie himself put his head above the parapet to reinforce Jack's message that the Union's finances are progressing towards a better tomorrow and that no ground will be given especially as it is Carruthers who has defaulted by not fulfilling all obligations and thereby rendering him liable to return a sum of £1.4m paid out in interim grants.

Whether this is sufficient to carry rugby's rank and file clubs who will ultimately decide remains to be seen but what is becoming increasingly obvious is that Bob Carruthers, fondly remembered by at least one fellow student at Glasgow College of Technology as the mainstay of their team more than quarter of a century ago and a 'rugby man' to his bootstraps, is finding out that rugby unions stick together and that is exactly what the International Board are.

When the International Board backed the Murrayfield establishment's call to have players released for international duty as and when required they were sending out the worst signal of all in the entire crisis. Namely that for potential investors like Bob Carruthers, however well intentioned, rugby today is a no-go area unless they are willing to give up anything resembling a measure of influence, far less control, in return for paying players' wages. Which, of course, is just how the Murrayfield regimes of this world would want it ...

Carruthers vs the SRU: how the saga unfolded
November 2, 2006: Edinburgh Rugby announce they are in dispute with the SRU over bar revenues at the national stadium on Edinburgh match days.

November 3, 2006: An SRU spokesperson laughs off the dispute over bar takings, saying: "This is not going to court, not at all. We have a very good relationship with Edinburgh Rugby whom we see as a role model for the other pro teams."

November 23, 2006: Relations between the owners of Edinburgh Rugby and the SRU hit a new low with the governing body threatening to withdraw international hospitality.

December 18, 2006: Edinburgh Rugby owner Bob Carruthers threatens SRU chiefs with legal action over a "substantial" six-figure sum the club claims it is owed . Edinburgh Rugby claim a dispute has arisen over non-payment of participation revenues from the European Cup and Magners League, which should have been collected and distributed by the SRU.

March 27, 2007: The SRU axes the Borders professional team and there are fears of a knock-on in the Scottish game, including Edinburgh Rugby. Bob Carruthers claims he had tried to organise a buy-out of the Borders from the SRU owners last October only to be rebuffed by a one paragraph e-mail response.

April 2, 2007: The SRU threatens to sue Bob Carruthers for "defamatory statements"

April 19, 2007 : Edinburgh Rugby hit back at claims the SRU had retained ownership of contracts relating to the Magners League and European Rugby Cup when the club was sold last year.

April 20, 2007: SRU chief executive Gordon McKie rejects a claim from Edinburgh Rugby of documentary evidence existing of an agreement to sign over contracts guaranteeing increased revenues from Heineken European Cup and Magners Celtic League participation. Bob Carruthers believes one third of competition monies the SRU receives are due to Edinburgh Rugby rather than the one quarter paid out at present.

June 6, 2007: Bob Carruthers warns the SRU it faces a legal battle if Edinburgh Rugby is not included in this season's Heineken European Cup.

July 5, 2007: Bob Carruthers claims the SRU has offered to buy back Edinburgh Rugby. He claims the governing body is refusing to come up with the original purchase price for which he hinted he would be prepared to sell. "Gordon McKie would like to get Edinburgh back and have us walk away," he says.

July 5, 2007: Bob Carruthers claims at a hastily-convened press conference that Gordon McKie has made clear that any threatened court action over alleged unpaid competition revenues would see Edinburgh Rugby closed down.

July 9, 2007: Bob Carruthers hits out at SRU claims that his team had put themselves in limbo with nobody to play against as a consequence of resigning Associate Membership of the governing body. The SRU also claimed that Edinburgh's actions disqualified them from an accident insurance scheme effectively making it dangerous for approximately 30 players not attached to Scotland's World Cup squad to train.

July 10, 2007: Edinburgh Rugby are formally charged with misconduct by the SRU and called to a disciplinary hearing at Murrayfield. The action centres on the alleged withdrawal of players from Scotland's World Cup training as part of the dispute involving competition payments.

July 13, 2007: Bob Carruthers warns that there will be no hiding place for any Edinburgh Rugby player he finds has been negotiating an alternative contract with the SRU during the current club versus country dispute.

July 25, 2007: Bob Carruthers rejects an SRU "request" for an explanation as to why Scotland captain Chris Paterson had been allowed to leave the club for Gloucester.

July 31, 2007: Bob Carruthers admits his team could be forced out of their hire arrangement at Murrayfield.

August 2, 2007: The SRU announces that Edinburgh Rugby have had their franchise agreement terminated and must leave Murrayfield. In addition, the club must repay £1.4million of advance funding by today.

This article was posted on 3-Aug-2007, 13:57 by Hugh Barrow.