MARION TRACE

THE new chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union will be unveiled today, just one week after officials said that none of the candidates for the vacancy were considered suitable for the post.

The surprise appointment will be confirmed at Murrayfield today, as the SRU ends its search for a successor to Phil Anderton, who quit his post in January this year after executive board chairman David Mackay was forced out by the general committee.

Fred McLeod has held the position of acting chief executive since Anderton\'s departure, but he will now step aside to let a full-time appointment take his place.

SRU chairman Allan Munro said recently: \"We had four very good candidates on our shortlist, each with excellent qualities.

\"But we found that none possessed the full range of qualities we believed were needed to meet our brief for the role and the search continues.

\"We have decided not to appoint at this time. The vital issue is that we find the right candidate for the job and, until that happens, I will be working full-time for Scottish Rugby until the right candidate has been found.\"

At that stage, it was estimated that it could take another couple of months at the very least to find the right man, which Munro stressed was the absolute priority. \"At the end of the day the most important factor is that we get the best man,\" he said. \"If that means operating without a chief executive for a further period, that\'s what we\'ll do.\"

This article was posted on 9-Aug-2005, 08:09 by Hugh Barrow.