Thursday 13 February 2014

Is Charles Cameron the sacrificial lamb who buys Dean Ryan more time at Worcester Warriors?

Despite being winless in the Premiership this season, Worcester director of rugby Dean Ryan remains in situ. But chief executive Charles Cameron has been drop-kicked out of Sixways after just nine months.

When Cameron was appointed in April, Worcester director Anthony Glossop said the club faced the challenge of establishing a sustainable business model and securing a better league position.

The second part of that challenge has patently not been met - the winless Warriors remain stubbornly rooted to the bottom of the table - and, judging by the poor crowds at Sixways, neither has the first part.

But who should carry the can for that, the CEO or the DoR? Arguably the latter. The Warriors have suffered painfully low gates (and therefore lower revenues) because they've been failing to deliver on the pitch. In sport, the business model suffers when the team isn't performing. Commercial performance and on-pitch performance are inextricably linked.

Of course, all manner of internal events at Sixways may have made Cameron's position untenable - events we'd never be privy to. But from the outside, Cameron looks like the sacrifical lamb who buys Ryan more time. The restless Warriors supporters - who have been staying at home in growing numbers - needed to be thrown some meat. Cameron is it.

I'll be talking more about recent events at Sixways on BBC Hereford and Worcester's breakfast show tomorrow at 7.45am.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Jamie Gibson on his mentors at Leicester Tigers

Poached mid-degree from Oxford University by Leicester, flanker Jamie Gibson tells me about what makes the Tigers such a distinctive place for a youngster to learn his trade.