By Neil Leigh
Sale co-owner Ian Blackhurst (left) and new chief executive Steve Diamond have big plans for the Sharks for 2012 and beyond
Steve Diamond will assume his new role as Sale’s chief executive charged with a bold mission to create a ‘super northern club’ full of home-grown heroes.
Though he officially doesn’t take up his new dual role until February 1, the 42-year-old, who will also remain as the Sharks’ executive director of sport, marked his official unveiling yesterday by spelling out – along with Sale co-owner Ian Blackhurst – his ambitious vision for Sale’s long-term future.
And rather throwing the chequebook at big-name stars, Diamond and Blackhurst say the core of Sale’s future success will come from within, via a conveyor of talent produced by their burgeoning academy.
Exciting young players such as Tom Brady, Henry Thomas, Will Addison and Lee Imiolek have already broken through into Sale’s first-team squad over the past 12 months – and the Sharks hierarchy believe they are just the tip of the iceberg.
“The future is in the kids of the North West - that’s where our infrastructure will be based around,” declared Diamond.
Youth
“We’re struggling to put out 15 English qualified players in our senior team right now as we have got five English lads learning how to play at Leeds.
“And lads like Ian Thornley and Tommy Bell will come back here next year having learnt so much and then the next batch will go to Headingley providing that Leeds don’t go up.
“When we do break even and make a profit, we want to invest massively into our academy. Eleven months ago when I came back we had 16 lads on the academy books now we have got 90. It has grown eightfold and we want to increase it again.”
“This isn’t a three-year plan – we want success now. We have budgeted to break even this year and with Steve in place we fully expect the club to start making money,” Blackhurst said.
“Owner Brian Kennedy and I make our money from other business interests but we have always wanted this business to make money in order to reinvest into the organisation.
“The north of England demands success. We had success for one year in 2006 with a lot of big names but it wasn’t sustainable. If you want success in the short-term you buy players in which we did in 2005/6. But if you want it for the long term, you have to invest in your academy.
“Our team at Leicester on Sunday had six guys from the academy and our big success stories next season will be the names you haven’t heard of yet who are in our academy now.”
In announcing Diamond’s new appointment – as exclusively revealed in yesterday’s MEN – Blackhurst also paid tribute to the dynamic leadership qualities of the legendary former Sale hooker and declared that the club had never been in a better position to establish itself as a leading force both at home and in Europe.
“No-one can sell this organisation better than Steve,” insisted Blackhurst, who also revealed Sale intend to double the size of their Carrington training HQ over the summer with the bulk of their Edgeley Park-based staff moving over to the complex.
“He’s played for the club, he’s coached the club and he’s director of rugby here.
“Steve’s overriding responsibility is the success of the business. This is a commercial enterprise and Steve’s prime responsibility will be to keep improving what we’ve got and to build on it.
“Then once that happens as we saw in 2006 the commercial opportunities will come.
“We love success here in the North West and there’s an awful lot of competition for supporters’ money so we have to play a brand of rugby people want to come and watch.
“It’s a big shout and the appointment has not been taken lightly. But Brian Kennedy, Steve and I have been talking about this a long time.
“Steve has already made huge changes in the mentality of the club in the short space of time he has been back and I think Steve’s back at his spiritual home in the job that he should be in.
“And with Steve back on board we think we’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been in – arguably even stronger than when we won the title back in 2006.
“We’ve got a great management structure, a great Academy, great people like Dave Swanton in our media department and Nigel Ashley-Jones in our conditioning department so all the elements are there.”
For his part, Diamond revealed he was already planning to integrate the demands of the new post alongside his current duties.
“Leaving Russia when I did to come here, was for this role,” admitted Diamond, who is due to announce two more key signings over the next few weeks.
“The first thing was turning the rugby side round but now it’s about taking the whole club in the right direction.
“There’s a buzz about the place again. We had 6,100 at Edgeley Park for our first league game this season and there were more than 9,000 there on Boxing Day so we are getting there.
“In my new role around 50 per cent of my time will go on the commercial side of things but we’ll soon have everybody based here rather than at Edgeley Park and it will be easily managed.
“The coaching set-up will stay as it is with Tony Hanks as head coach and selection will still be done by Hanksy, myself and Steve Scott.”
What makes the achievements of Diamond and Sale all the more impressive is that they have been achieved with Sale still £750,000 under the Premiership’s £4.2m salary cap.
Disaster
Some of Sale’s rivals – notably big-spending Saracens and Bath – have demanded Premiership chiefs either raise or abolish the cap, but that would be a recipe for financial disaster according to Blackhurst.
“We are committed to spend right to the limit of the salary cap but, equally, the business needs to start making money to be sustainable,” he said.
“God forbid, but if Brian and I were wiped off the face of the planet, someone’s got to fund it.
In signing off his ambitious vision, Diamond was equally forthright on the subject of the salary cap, delivering a stinging barb at those Premiership clubs who have been vocal about abolishing the wage ceiling.
“As regards the salary cap, you can see our intent with the signing of Richie Gray and one or two more announcements we’ll be making in the next few weeks,” added Diamond.
“If its right, we will spend up to the salary cap but we didn’t think it was right this year.
“The Baths and the Saracens of this world want to get rid of it but Saracens posted a loss of £6m last year – how can that be realistic?
“If their top man gets run over by a rhinoceros where do they go?
We’ll do it the right way here by investing in kids of the region who want to play for the club and help give the place it’s soul and identity.”
Though he officially doesn’t take up his new dual role until February 1, the 42-year-old, who will also remain as the Sharks’ executive director of sport, marked his official unveiling yesterday by spelling out – along with Sale co-owner Ian Blackhurst – his ambitious vision for Sale’s long-term future.
And rather throwing the chequebook at big-name stars, Diamond and Blackhurst say the core of Sale’s future success will come from within, via a conveyor of talent produced by their burgeoning academy.
Exciting young players such as Tom Brady, Henry Thomas, Will Addison and Lee Imiolek have already broken through into Sale’s first-team squad over the past 12 months – and the Sharks hierarchy believe they are just the tip of the iceberg.
“The future is in the kids of the North West - that’s where our infrastructure will be based around,” declared Diamond.
Youth
“We’re struggling to put out 15 English qualified players in our senior team right now as we have got five English lads learning how to play at Leeds.
“And lads like Ian Thornley and Tommy Bell will come back here next year having learnt so much and then the next batch will go to Headingley providing that Leeds don’t go up.
“When we do break even and make a profit, we want to invest massively into our academy. Eleven months ago when I came back we had 16 lads on the academy books now we have got 90. It has grown eightfold and we want to increase it again.”
“This isn’t a three-year plan – we want success now. We have budgeted to break even this year and with Steve in place we fully expect the club to start making money,” Blackhurst said.
“Owner Brian Kennedy and I make our money from other business interests but we have always wanted this business to make money in order to reinvest into the organisation.
“The north of England demands success. We had success for one year in 2006 with a lot of big names but it wasn’t sustainable. If you want success in the short-term you buy players in which we did in 2005/6. But if you want it for the long term, you have to invest in your academy.
“Our team at Leicester on Sunday had six guys from the academy and our big success stories next season will be the names you haven’t heard of yet who are in our academy now.”
In announcing Diamond’s new appointment – as exclusively revealed in yesterday’s MEN – Blackhurst also paid tribute to the dynamic leadership qualities of the legendary former Sale hooker and declared that the club had never been in a better position to establish itself as a leading force both at home and in Europe.
“No-one can sell this organisation better than Steve,” insisted Blackhurst, who also revealed Sale intend to double the size of their Carrington training HQ over the summer with the bulk of their Edgeley Park-based staff moving over to the complex.
“He’s played for the club, he’s coached the club and he’s director of rugby here.
“Steve’s overriding responsibility is the success of the business. This is a commercial enterprise and Steve’s prime responsibility will be to keep improving what we’ve got and to build on it.
“Then once that happens as we saw in 2006 the commercial opportunities will come.
“We love success here in the North West and there’s an awful lot of competition for supporters’ money so we have to play a brand of rugby people want to come and watch.
“It’s a big shout and the appointment has not been taken lightly. But Brian Kennedy, Steve and I have been talking about this a long time.
“Steve has already made huge changes in the mentality of the club in the short space of time he has been back and I think Steve’s back at his spiritual home in the job that he should be in.
“And with Steve back on board we think we’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been in – arguably even stronger than when we won the title back in 2006.
“We’ve got a great management structure, a great Academy, great people like Dave Swanton in our media department and Nigel Ashley-Jones in our conditioning department so all the elements are there.”
For his part, Diamond revealed he was already planning to integrate the demands of the new post alongside his current duties.
“Leaving Russia when I did to come here, was for this role,” admitted Diamond, who is due to announce two more key signings over the next few weeks.
“The first thing was turning the rugby side round but now it’s about taking the whole club in the right direction.
“There’s a buzz about the place again. We had 6,100 at Edgeley Park for our first league game this season and there were more than 9,000 there on Boxing Day so we are getting there.
“In my new role around 50 per cent of my time will go on the commercial side of things but we’ll soon have everybody based here rather than at Edgeley Park and it will be easily managed.
“The coaching set-up will stay as it is with Tony Hanks as head coach and selection will still be done by Hanksy, myself and Steve Scott.”
What makes the achievements of Diamond and Sale all the more impressive is that they have been achieved with Sale still £750,000 under the Premiership’s £4.2m salary cap.
Disaster
Some of Sale’s rivals – notably big-spending Saracens and Bath – have demanded Premiership chiefs either raise or abolish the cap, but that would be a recipe for financial disaster according to Blackhurst.
“We are committed to spend right to the limit of the salary cap but, equally, the business needs to start making money to be sustainable,” he said.
“God forbid, but if Brian and I were wiped off the face of the planet, someone’s got to fund it.
In signing off his ambitious vision, Diamond was equally forthright on the subject of the salary cap, delivering a stinging barb at those Premiership clubs who have been vocal about abolishing the wage ceiling.
“As regards the salary cap, you can see our intent with the signing of Richie Gray and one or two more announcements we’ll be making in the next few weeks,” added Diamond.
“If its right, we will spend up to the salary cap but we didn’t think it was right this year.
“The Baths and the Saracens of this world want to get rid of it but Saracens posted a loss of £6m last year – how can that be realistic?
“If their top man gets run over by a rhinoceros where do they go?
We’ll do it the right way here by investing in kids of the region who want to play for the club and help give the place it’s soul and identity.”
Source http://menmedia.co.uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment