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March 14, 2006

McKie - No Scottish Exodus

Posted by Editor on March 14, 2006 03:58 PM | 8 comments | Print | E-mail author
Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Gordon McKie insists there is no exodus of professional players from the game north of the border.

Scotland internationals Scott MacLeod and Nikki Walker have both recently announced deals with Welsh clubs for next season.

National head coach Frank Hadden has voiced a desire to see his squad remain in Scotland but the loss of the Border Reivers pair has been tempered by the arrival of prop Gavin Kerr from Leeds.

McKie said: "We are keen to retain our players in Scotland because Frank feels that unity and communication is lost if players move away, however, it is still not the end of the world if they do.

"Scott MacLeod, for example, was a loss to the Borders and Scotland and Frank Hadden intervened but, unfortunately, to no avail."

McKie added: "The process of player contracts started when the three pro-team coaches, Frank Hadden and I met in December to benchmark players into four categories.

"We identified them as "A" players critical to pro-team and national team, "B" players who are very important to pro-team and in the national squad, "C" a key pro-team player and "D" a peripheral pro-team player.

"We wanted to conclude negotiations much earlier than last year, but, year-on-year, we are still ahead of the game.

"We tried to tie up as many A-grade players by the end of January, so they were not distracted through the RBS 6 Nations campaign."

But McKie dismissed suggestions Edinburgh Gunners received significantly more financial assistance from the governing body than Glasgow or the Borders.

He said: "The talk of Edinburgh Gunners having a much larger budget than Glasgow Warriors and Border Reivers is, quite frankly, a myth.

"Four million pounds to £5million is the net expenditure for all three pro-teams taking into account players' wages, support staff, their venue and all other overheads.

"There is only a gap of around £125,000 to £150,000 between the player budgets of Edinburgh Gunners and Border Reivers. Glasgow are in between the two."

Comments
Posted by Big Blue on March 14, 2006 05:06 PM | Reply to this comment

Aye, right!

Posted by Wesiblo on March 14, 2006 11:10 PM | Reply to this comment

Oh yeah Gordon. New Labour are looking for spin merchants when you are done at Murrayfield

Posted by Highlandbrave75 on March 14, 2006 11:54 PM | Reply to this comment

Better watch out lads...the forum mafia will be after you for disagreeing with the press release!

Posted by Phall on March 15, 2006 10:09 AM | Reply to this comment

Okay so here is the message from "The Don"...
I was not a supporter of McKie, however he MUST be given a chance and unless someone can come up with the goods and prove him to be a liar then give it a wrap. This constant miserabalism is THE problem with Scottish Rugby, we must be the most pathetic glass half empty nation on earth, and we aren't even a real nation.
It makes Matt Williams tenure look like the Golden Age.

Posted by Big Blue on March 15, 2006 12:34 PM | Reply to this comment

Sorry, Phall, I have been a supporter of McKie from the start. For him to come out with this nonsense, though, is just a bit too much. At least last year, they said Edinburgh received a substantially greater cut of the cake because they were the highest rated of the three Scottish sides. What is their excuse now?

Edinburgh, both on the field and off, are the main concern of the SRU, all done at the expense of the other two sides.

Posted by Highlandbrave75 on March 15, 2006 02:27 PM | Reply to this comment

No problems "Corleone"! ;o)

I've never stated McKie as being a "liar" in any postings I've made on the forum. I've simply expressed his clever use of wording in press releases to suggest all's well in the Garden of Eden.

In fact, as I've said on the forum, McKie started really well in his position within the SRU but lately he's got bogged down in magically worded press releases.

Recently he's got into the same vehicle the previous regime abandoned by the side of the road and is now comfortably driving down the same route as the previous regime did.

Posted by green on March 15, 2006 10:13 AM | Reply to this comment

Gordon didn't say why any of the Pro teams should have even a slightly greater budget than the others. Presumably the Edinburgh budget would not include a rent for playing facilities as the G;asgow one does, or is the rent for Firhill paid for by the SRU general funding?

Posted by hugh on March 15, 2006 10:45 AM | Reply to this comment

And you have situations like Eric Milligan signed by Glasgow 6 weeks ago and has only played about 40 minutes of rugby since then(for Hawks against Boroughmuir)its just crackers.You cannot become a better player by simply training you actually have to play

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