Munster keen to attract right candidate but Lengthy to-do list awaits new supremo

Ian Flanagan said one of his main tasks was to regain the trust of Munster supporters, an objective still with some course to run given a poor turnout of 11,031 at Thomond Park for last Saturday’s URC season-opening match against Glasgow

CEO Ian Flanagan has stepped down. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Munster Rugby begin the search for their next chief executive officer with a hard sell ahead of them if they want to attract the right candidate to take them forward.

Ian Flanagan’s decision to step down at the end of this month from the role he has held since October 2019 did not come as a surprise when it was announced on Thursday, even if the timing caught even Munster Rugby staff members on the hop. 

The former sports marketing and Premier League executive who had succeeded the late Garrett Fitzgerald had come under intense pressure following a series of negative impacts on Munster Rugby in recent months, including a round of redundancies and the controversy surrounding the attempt to hire Roger Randle as attack coach.

The announcement also coincides with the expected delivery of an Independent Governance and Organisational Review commissioned by the Munster Rugby Board four months ago.

That review, led by Dr Martin Kelleher and undertaken by The Governance Company, began its work in May following Munster’s controversial appointment, subsequently cancelled by mutual consent, of Randle for the current season.

The process by which the New Zealander was hired led to the resignations of three members, ex-players Billy Holland, Killian Keane and Mick O’Driscoll, from Munster’s Professional Games Committee while the major public backlash which arose following the airing of an historic 1997 rape allegation against Randle, which never led to criminal proceedings, led to the departures of a number of members of Munster’s voluntary Commercial Advisory Group.

That has added the task of fixing reputational damage to a lengthy to-do list in a difficult economic climate for rugby in general, for whomever succeeds the outgoing chief executive, as Flanagan himself acknowledged in an exclusive interview with the Irish Examiner in May.

In that interview, Flanagan took full responsibility for the failed processes which led Munster Rugby to commission the independent review. The CEO also said one of his main tasks was to regain the trust of Munster supporters, an objective still with some course to run given a poor turnout of 11,031 at Thomond Park for last Saturday’s URC season-opening match against Glasgow Warriors.

“I understand that. I accept it. I acknowledge it,” Flanagan had said. “And I wouldn't necessarily say it's just supporters. We have a lot of stakeholders and I know there's disappointment out there from a lot of people.

“I know there is upset out there from a lot of people and this is a significant motivation for commissioning the independent review that we want to assure people.

“Firstly, I want to apologise to those people for how it did unfold and hold our hands up and say, we want to learn from this. We do want to re-establish trust… and we want to reassure everyone that we are going to learn from this and we are going to strengthen our processes and our governance so that it doesn't happen again.” 

Fast forward to Thursday and Flanagan’s exit means the unwelcome baton will be passed a successor, with Munster confirming an Interim CEO will be announced in the coming weeks and a recruitment process for a permanent successor will be undertaken “in due course”.

In the same statement, Flanagan said: "Leading my home province has been a huge privilege. I would like to thank the many people I have worked alongside during my time with Munster Rugby, including our volunteers, staff, sponsors, coaches and players. I would also like to thank our supporters for their unwavering commitment to Munster Rugby over many years. I wish the province every success in the future."