Graeme Macpherson

Scottish Rugby are closing in on the appointment of a new chief executive following Mark Dodson’s departure and whoever gets the job will be made to work for every penny of their exorbitant salary.

A summer of change is on the way at Murrayfield with Dodson being followed out the door by performance director Jim Mallinder and chief financial officer Hilary Spence.

The new broom sweeping clean is John Mcguigan, appointed last summer as chairman with a mandate to try to bring about positive change in a turbulent market.

That’s not an easy gig for him and whoever steps into Dodson’s shoes, with Scottish Rugby’s finances in a bit of a state.

The governing body made a loss of just over £10 million in the last financial year and is on track to do roughly the same again – if not worse – this time around.

That is almost hard to fathom given they landed a £15m government Covid bail-out a few years back and a share of the £365m paid by private equity firm, CVC, for a stake in the Six Nations.

Mcguigan admits that cash is all gone, spent on the Scotland women’s team and investing in player salaries to attract and retain high-calibre players and coaches at Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh.

‘Chairman did warn that clubs may need to ‘carry the pain’

Any company staring into a financial black hole can only look to fix it two ways – by raising revenue or reducing costs.

Mcguigan wants his new CEO to increase Scottish Rugby’s turnover from £68m a year to £100m to help get the business back into the black by 2026.

Prices for Scotland matches are already on the up and – although a largely middle-class market will happily pay the going rate for a boozy day out – there is only so far ticket costs can be hiked before even the well-heeled start to say enough is enough.

The Six Nations broadcasting deal is up next year and there will be more money to be made by selling the rights to the likes of Sky, TNT and Amazon – although with that comes reduced exposure by taking the matches away from free-to-air channels, BBC and STV.

Mcguigan certainly seems to favour the carrot rather than the stick approach, reluctant to cut costs that could materially damage the prospects of Glasgow and Edinburgh, especially now both have women’s franchises up and running.

The chairman did warn, however, that the clubs may need to “carry the pain” of some of the short-term cost reductions as Scottish Rugby tries to bring itself back onto an even keel.

It is a business now in a somewhat precarious financial position. Good luck, then, to whoever lands the new chief executive’s job

You suspect they might need it.