The trouble there is that the community clubs are hugely reliant on the WRU core grants so I don't think that would happen.

You'd think the media would be all over this, but instead, all their energy is focused on Louis Rees zammits career with the kansas city chiefs

I hold my breath  !!

The strategy will say that we’WRU’ are doing everything right, the rest of the rugby fraternity haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about.

We are overfunding the regions, who should be dominating Europe and the URC with the size of our investment and the quality of their squads.

The only thing we need to more of is buying more hotels and property in Cardiff, so we are going to shut down a region to do so

The modern WRU needs people with integrity and ability to take on the challenges of the modern game, not yes men like Walker who just collects a very big cheque for very little contribution, and yet he might be one of the better ones.

I am pretty sure that someone like Alun Wyn possesses the knowledge & professional skills to make the difference but he would make most of his colleagues pretty uncomfortable I guess. 

My understanding is he has a law degree. That suggests some acumen to me which sitting alongside his undoubted knowledge of the rugby environment would give him an edge on Nigel Walker.  I am talking about diversity of skills to complement Abi Tierney. She needs a rugby person to advise her through the web of machinations within the WRU. I am in no way suggesting that he possesses the skills to become the WRU's legal adviser but he does seem to me to have the inside knowledge & respect required to deal with all sides of the argument. 

WRU has unfortunately been a breeding ground for cronyism and jobs for the boys. We've got to move on from that and display complete transparency. If the WRU is to succeed then the structure has to be fit for purpose.

 

Exactly. I’d rather someone like that than someone who’s only there because they used to play for Wales. 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/67617370" rel="nofollow - https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/67617370

It pains me to say it but on paper at least a reasonable range of business and rugby experience.

People whose first thought is what’s in it for me not what’s the best I can do for rugby.

The individuals that turn up week in week out to help their respective clubs by marking the lines cutting the grass running the finances of their clubs are the salt of the earth and we rely on these people otherwise the game would die. 

The ones that get to WRU level seem to forget where they came from and why they went into the job on the first place. 

The WRU is a joke and it’s going to take more a than a 5 year plan,  which will probably be ripped up in a year when the next much lauded  chief executive is put on place because the current one will have left exasperated. 

did we scour the world for the best candidate too? was tierney the best available in the world?

I think that given the WRU's horrific cultural issues, it had to be a woman, if the candidates were close.

Thats not what I asked at all

 Did I suggest AWJ as CEO????? How much current day knowledge did the KPMG man have about professional rugby???? Don't you think he will have the advise and help on the rugby front from a rugby person??? David Humphries anyone??????

Any rugby board needs a diversity of skills to succeed. 

Don't think we should get too excited. Announcement today will be the broad brush strategy - zero details. Probably, I hope I'm wrong, an arrangement of fancy words which we will all have heard before. The detailed 5 year strategy is being published in October. 

Quite why the 4 month gap I do not understand.

You seem to worship at the bean counter fountain. We have our very own member of the counter brigade who has an illustrious CV as top man at PWC. What does he know about rugby - probably as much as the KPMG man. 

As far as I can make out the only member of the Welsh board with any recent experience of Men's professional rugby is Jamie Roberts who is NED which is very much part time with limited day to day involvement. 

I am not saying these people do not bring things to the party which are badly needed but to get Welsh rugby back on track to being in any way competitive we need rugby people who understand the environment in which we are struggling. 

Just hopping on the "cool drink of the moment" really, in much the same way as Gin was the in thing a couple of years ago.

I will do the same fot italy and wales both, 2 regions in URC and 2 regions in Rugby Europe Championship with black lions and others...

The big challenge for pro rugby nowadays is the sustainability of pro rugby in this specific economic scenario.

I ve ever supported that the first big revolution can start from Wales...a 3 regions model, who cut?, or a 2+2, who with who? Is only a way for extend the agony. The debt is deep and difficoult to resane, how many games out of the test window do you can organize for recover all this money?

I think it needs a brave act and back to a welsh league with an extra competion against english club..

It will be not a step back but a serious reflection before the pro rugby bubble bursts and safeguard the grassroots rugby and its historical tradition

I note that they said

This reality has been apparent for 5 years, but at least there is new management at the WRU which improves chances of survival.  The WRU has to make hard choices, does it continue to invest in its core asset, the Stadium, or in the pro business generally. Hopefully, it will not be self serving. 

I have always thought that Wales would go to 2 top level teams eventually as the economics of the pro game will force that.  Cardiff will always be one, so it becomes a question of whether it is Swansea or Llanelli.  

CVC I believe,  which paid cash up front.

The clubs are private businesses, pro rugby is a business not a pastime.  If they cannot survive, they will go bust like any other business. Pro Rugby has no right of survival if its economics do not work.

Is there really any reason why the Dragons should be in business?  If their owners want to keep the rugby side at a loss and take profits on redevelopment of the area, maybe that works.   Rugby people are trapped in our history, which is past history not current reality.  Having four pro teams in a 60 mile corridor none of which makes money seems a luxury, unless their owners want to support it.

1. Sell or remortgage the wru hotel

2. Remortgage the stadium.

3. Sell more debentures

4. Restructure loans

5. Better kick off times

6. Judgement day early in season at principality 

7. Sevens tournaments in summer with djs just like t20 / hundred cricket

8. Write into players contracts more community and schools work and coaching at home clubs

9 more visible charity work that offers the public the chance to contribute

Improve image

10. Scour the world for best affordable CEO 

11 better kick off times

12 use the 10 empty weekends to draft regional stars back to their clubs and play in the welsh Cup.....thus bringing back club rivalries for several weeks

13. The 6 nations has just been offered 800 million Qatari money for a play off versus 4 nations...why no mention if that ?

14. What happened to joint central contracts

15. 25 cap rule is it help or hinder?

16. Put the words to welsh songs on bug screen

17. Offer the pre match entertainment on the red button so we can hear it instead of some talking head telling how great the atmosphere is

18. Where's the profits from all the sold out concerts ?

19. Replace walker

20. The transport around Cardiff needs improving and the ncp car parks are an obscene rip off...work on this with council and assembly etc

I'd be more likely to follow Goebbels, Göring and Himmler on a "tour" of suitable showers than I would be to follow Tierney and Walker (along with the rest of the WRU cronies) 

I think if the result of the report was that all debts have been written off by an anonymous source people would have complained. 

100%. The fact is the WRU has been poorly run for years and now the hard truths are finally coming out. 

I’d have a lot more time for Tierney if she’d have accepted Gatland’s resignation or at least put it to the board. That would have been one financial burden eased.

Hard truths? why are the so called hard truths always at the expense of the regions and not at the expense of the jokers running the wru? why are you defending the wru and their boss instead of questioning them? Dont you think they could look at key areas they need to improve? shouldnt keeping 4 pro teams be their top priority? 

Unsure I have defended them, I simply asked why people were attacking a new in post Abi Tierney. 

But to break away would take courage and conviction,and I doubt we have enough of either.In addition I suspect that key figures are too close to the WRU..

I'm sick to death of the whole sorry mess.It's a terrible shame and I'm just glad that my late father, and so many others,are no longer here to see this disgusting shambles.

how much will Taylor Swift and Foo Fighters make the WRU ?

When is the stadium naming rights up for renewal (we didnt get a good deal compared to Murryfield)

if its £100m odd income and less that £20m to the regions then where is £80m + £15m overspend going ??

Nothing new and no solutions, waste of time and money.

Are you serious? why would they not be criticizing her?  after another waste of time and money?? another wasted opportunity? another failure to offer hope to pro rugby in wales? another dearth of actual ideas? another threat to wipe out or diminish a region? 

So for years the WRU has been mis managed by senior executives who have been riding the old gravy train, execs going on all expense paid trips for the 6 nations with their wives/partners. 

We now have new people in post, whose job it is to look at securing professional rugby in Wales. Part of this means having to find a way to fill a massive hole in the budgets. They’ve stated the preferred option is 4 regions, maybe even following the Irish set up, but if they can’t find a way then it is possible a region may have to go. 

Also as mentioned previously, would be lovely to get dropped by the WRU and yet somehow be able to generate enough funding to compete in the English Prem as Scarlets.  I won the lottery last night, but it was only a tenner so I can't bankroll Scarlets just yet sorry....

Hang on, I won a lucky dip so keep your fingers crossed for Saturday - just don't tell Mrs FS....

If the last 21 years have proven anything it's that basing teams around centres of population is a daft idea when you think that all four teams are within no more than an hours drive from each other and some of our fans drive past Newport, Cardiff and Swansea to get to our home games - so how daft is the idea of basing the three teams around the main cities.

The gravy-train isn't/wasn't  cheap. 

If the hotel is a viable money making scheme then fair enough but surely there are debts attached to that which would make the load lighter?

The WRU’s gravy train is made by Hornby in comparison to the Senydd. 

how will 2 pro womens teams be afforded when we cant even afford what we currently have? 

Since the WAG is using taxpayer's money to furnish the loan to the WRU I'm glad they're charging a decent rate of interest. That the IRFU & RFU may have negotiated better deals with banks/government (I'd like you to provide details of their arrangements to prove your argument btw) is another example of the WRU's ineptness in the first place. Why should the WAG short change the public just because it's rugby? Get a sense of perspective.

The WRU's history of misoginy does not help here. Also attendances for the Women's game are growing, whereas....

This is a sensible methodolgy. Makes clear everything is on the table, then nobody can say "you didn't warn us".  The core problem is that the WRU was designed for the 1960's world and it has not changed fundamentally.  Ineptitude hasn't helped either.

They have invested in the Stadium primarily and businesses around it, to the detriment of the pro game, which they view as owned and controlled largely by the private sector.  

Maybe the WRU has come to the conclusion that 2 well funded pro teams is about right for a narrow area of population and 3 million people.  They could be right...The problem is that next step down is non existent from a practical prespective, with no ability to get promoted/relegated.  It's the same in England, and they have lost a third of the top level in the last 2 years.  Rugby has no right to survive in the professional era, a concept which is not fully understood.  It has been slow to adapt to professionaliam and commerce generally.  What worked 30 years ago, no longer works today.

With the best will in the world. Why should they? We harp on about the fact that they don't generate any money, but the man's game is currently living way beyond it's means. 

The women's game is given far less than the man's game currently, why would they be the first stop on a cost cutting exercise.

They are a relatively new entity in terms of professionalism/semi professionalism, they are certainly not responsible for the £30m black hole the WRU face

Who is paying for that?

Would anyone risk a multi million pound investment when a third party (WRU) could give them 2 years notice to shut down the Ospreys franchise. Unless of course the WRU have given them a guarantee that they won't be culled.

Even in our worst season for a long time we finished above the dragons and won more games than Cardiff.

This is not facetious it's a genuine question.

I agree.

They cover a large population area.

There is money there.

And....

Gwent is home to a lot of clubs,which means a lot of votes.

Surely the fate of the regions wouldn't be based on a grassroots vote.

We have our own facilities both training and playing, we have investors that are tied to the area and have a genuine love of the game and the area. 

As was mentioned if JD knew what was coming so would the Ospreys hence all of the sudden talk of a new stadium, facilities etc, they will know that the path of least resistance is most likely so the wru aren't going to choose them then house them so something had to be done. Whether they have the money to do it or do it in time remains to be seen.

Crowd wise in our worst season we regularly got more fans than the o's in their most successful season for a long while. 5000 odd for a European knock out game..

Anyone worth their salt would argue even with allegedly £10m more than the other regions the dragons have never finished anywhere other than the last of all 4 regions as far as I know.

Cardiff have had some fantastic crowds this year but still won less games than us..

I don't say we are a shoe in for anything but there are arguments to say we are at least on a par with the other clubs.

I wasn't suggesting it would be based on a direct vote,no..However I was pointing out that a bigger concentration of clubs means a bigger concentrartion of power and influence.....that might go some way to explaining the alleged £10 million extra you mention,no?

Unfortunately I doubt any of the points you raise will matter at all,to be honest.

The ground has been prepared for the bloodshed that I think will inevitably follow. The only sensible option I can see is going to two regions East & West, one playing out of the Arms Park, the other PYS. This option will come with very strong restrictions on the number of non Welsh qualified players are allowed per squad. 

A cursory glance at the under 20's team for the game tomorrow shows almost a third of the team playing across the border. The future Welsh coaches are going to have to get used to preparing teams with a large number of restricted availability players because surely with reduced teams the 25 cap rule will have to go. 

Abi Tierney attempted to suggest that they had a blueprint for returning the regions & Wales to competitiveness; I have to say I am still awaiting any proof of that. 

I think that too. The only concern is the Ospreys. Are they gonna let them spend millions developing St Helens then tell them we’re shutting you down now? Or is the middle ground going to be sharing games?

Great spot Wil - the gravy train continues.

Ahh read that totally wrong😊