The Herald reports

Larkham deal cancelled as SRU take controlKEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer August 11 2007
Stephen Larkham's move to Edinburgh has fallen through as a result of the team's reversion to Scottish Rugby Union ownership.

The signing of the Australian stand-off was seen as a major coup as the consortium that owned the club sought to reassure supporters that the departure of a stream of leading Scottish players did not show a lack of ambition on their part.

Since then, however, they have been engaged in a summer-long dispute with the SRU, from whom they bought the club last year, which only ended yesterday.

That has resulted in the departure, with immediate effect, of Dean Lewis, the interim managing director, and Lyn Howells, the head coach.

Gordon McKie, the SRU's chief executive, said that in appointing Henry Edwards, the team's former forwards coach, as interim head coach for the second time in 12 months, he was hoping stability could quickly be re-established.

However, in looking to rebuild the squad, they cannot afford Larkham on the terms offered.

"We decided it would not be in Scottish Rugby's best interests to proceed with that agreement," said McKie.

"We have asked Edinburgh Rugby the out-going owners to advise the player that they are not in a position to fulfil the contract on the terms offered.

"If his agent wants to discuss matters with us we would be happy to do so, but the overall structure of the contract is not one that we would ordinarily issue to a top player."

McKie acknowledged that with the likes of Chris Paterson, Scott Murray, Simon Taylor, Marcus Di Rollo and Rob Dewey on their way out of the club it would be difficult to get the squad back to the required level.

That may be partly addressed by looking at where there is excess quality at Glasgow Warriors, the other SRU-owned club, but the CEO said that would be done in close consultation with Sean Lineen, Glasgow's head coach. McKie added that loan deals would be another option in the short-term.

While they will now start looking for a new head coach, a new chief executive has already been appointed and starts on Monday. Nic Cartwright was previously with rugby league club Harlequins, having been with what was formerly the London Broncos since 1998 as commercial director, then as chief executive.

He applied for the same post at Glasgow Warriors and, while that was filled by Ian Riddoch - previously Edinburgh's commercial director - Cartwright impressed sufficiently that McKie kept him in mind should the Edinburgh post come available, as he clearly expected it might.

The terms of the handover have seen both sides drop claims against one another, while there will be a pay-off to the out-going consortium which McKie described as "not significant in the scheme of things".

That has been made on the condition that the monies be used to discharge outstanding liabilities, while the right to stage concerts at Murrayfield will also revert to the SRU. The consortium claimed they were being shut out by mainstream promoters who may be more willing to negotiate directly with the venue owners.

This article was originally posted on 11-Aug-2007, 08:01 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 11-Aug-2007, 08:02.