Quins' pre-season Presss Conference


The Boss (pic KevT)
By KevT
September 8 2003

On a sunny afternoon, your reporter and a number of journos were at The Stoop for the Pre Season Press Conference. The top table comprised Tony Copsey (MD), Paul Turner (Backs Coach), Mark Evans (CEO etc etc), Andre Vos (Club Captain), John Kingston (Forwards Coach) and Tony Diprose (Vice Captain).

We bid a tearful farewell to departing PR and Media Executive Nick Melton and then Tony Copsey started off the conference:

“I want to talk about some of Harlequins achievements over the past few years. Quins has always had the reputation of being the City Slickers and Underachievers. We hope you agree that we have done a lot over the last few years to overcome that. We aim to succeed in our core values of being:

"We feel that there are a lot of things that we have done in the past few years, the community for example. We now sell 1,000 tickets for our home games through the community scheme. These initiatives and things like the Harley’s Angels Dance Academy which is the only scheme of its type in The Premiership, have made Quins the local club at Twickenham. It is very much in touch with its community and locality. We like to think that we also still uphold the traditional values of Harlequins, the style and cosmopolitan nature of the club.

"The Zurich Premiership has been a great success over the past few years which is a testament to the Premiership clubs. If we look at the overall increased attendances, we at Harlequins have contributed to that with packed, sell out crowds. Ticket sale averages were as follows:

"Season Ticket sales are at 3,887 now which compares with 3,752 for the whole of last year. We could reach our maximum of 4,000 by the first game against Wasps. That shows that our core support is there.

"This presents us with a problem going forward as we are running out of capacity. This is a message across the whole of The Premiership and it is something that Mark and I want to look at over the coming months.

"Commercially we are delighted with CSF and NEC sponsorship. We are pleased and proud of our sponsorship with NEC for the ninth year. We also have platinum sponsorships with Eden Park, Severn Water and this season, Norton Rose. We have also signed a ten year deal with Greene King.

"We have signed a four year deal with Kooga for our team kit. (Ugo Monye came to the front modelling the new kit).


John Kingston shows off his skills with the inflatable Ugo (pic KevT)

"Sweat dissipates from the jersey, it also has grip on the front which enables the player to keep a grip of the ball in the contact area. We have also had to produce an away strip due to European regulations for the first time in Quins’ history. You can buy it in the shops but I doubt you’ll see our team wear it!

"These achievements have been acknowledged in the marketing awards we have won in the past two seasons. Hopefully you’ll agree that Harlequins is a changing club and is starting to achieve its potential.”

 

There then followed a question and answer session.

Q. How near is the club to breaking even?

TC: Last year we made a small loss. This year, because of the World Cup, we’ll only be breaking even. The following year is when we see Harlequins making a good profit.

Q. What are your plans regarding the development of The Stoop?

ME: It’s a pretty open secret locally that we’ve got ambitions to develop the ground significantly in the next few seasons. Harlequins made a small loss last year. We’ve reduced the leakage like many others who were losing huge sums of money in the not too distant past. We’ve pretty much got that under control and it’s certainly financeable at the moment. We fully expect to move into profit the season after this. Looking longer term, I don’t think you can sustain professional rugby in a financially viable way in a stadium of this size with those types of facilities. Our next challenge off the field has to be to make significant improvement to the facilities that we’ve got here if we are going to compete with Toulouse (who’ve just moved to a new stadium) and Perpignan (who have just made huge investments in their stadium). We have to compete with Northampton and Newcastle and what is planned at Gloucester and Leicester. If you are going to compete at that level then you have got to have better facilities than we have got at the moment. It’s a lovely ground to come to, people enjoy it, and it’s a great experience. It’s just too small and that’s going to require some significant investment.

Q. Significant Investment? Have you got any plans?

ME: Yes. We are working on something to take to planning in the next six to twelve months.

Q. What about objections locally?

ME: I think things have changed considerably recently through a lot of the things we have done locally and continue to do. I think the attitude to the club has shifted considerably locally.

TC: I think a lot of bridges have been built. If you look at the latest analysis from Leicester University, 75% of our supporter base does come from within a few miles of The Stoop. There is a very strong presence in Twickenham, Whitton and Richmond.

ME: So without wanting to appear blasé about it, I’m pretty confident that we can put something together that will get approval, but it’s going to be a significant financial investment. Obviously.


The panel (pic KevT)

Q. How serious is the injury to Chris Bell?

ME: He got a bad ankle injury against the Gwent Dragons which he got in the same move that Mel Deane injured himself. It was a four or five phase play and we dropped the ball over the line. Well, that hacked me off to start with and when I looked back to see two blokes on the ground, that hacked me off even more. It is significant. He won’t be back for six, seven weeks. The first five games, maybe a few more because he is a very promising young player who would have been there or thereabouts for the starting line up.

Q. You’ve picked Andy Reay for the Sarries game and you’ve got exciting young players coming through.

ME: Yes we have. We had five players playing for the England Under 21 in that World Cup, although it was a fairly undistinguished campaign. It’s one of the good things if you look down the team now, you’ve got James Hayter, Simon Miall, Jon Dawson, Andy Reay and Ugo Monye who have grown up at the club and never been anywhere else since they left school or university. I feel very strongly that a successful club has got to grow a significant proportion of its own players. I’m always pleased when players like Andy make the side. He’s spent a lot of time with us. We take a lot of time and effort with our youth programme and as a Head Coach you can be a bit cautious and say maybe they’re not quite ready. Sometimes when circumstances state you’ve got to play them, it works out very well. Let’s hope so.

Q. How about Ugo Monye’s development? Is he the fastest player in the Premiership?

ME: I don’t know. “Ug’s! Are you the quickest in the League?” He doesn’t know. I’d do know he’s quick, very quick. He’s rapid. It doesn’t matter whether he’s the quickest. He’s very strong, that’s what people don’t quite realise. But he’s young. He knows he’s got a lot to learn both positionally and tactically but he’s a hell of a talent. It’s up to the coaching staff to make the most of that. I’m just delighted that he’s signed a three year contract which will take him through to his mid twenties.

Q. What about Gavin Duffy?

JK: He’s an undoubted talent. I saw him in Ireland at the age of 19. I put him on the wing to try and take it “softly, softly” with him. By the end I had to be reigned back in from putting him at Full Back or Centre. It’s a big move for him to come out of the closeness and camaraderie of Ireland but I’m absolutely convinced it’s the right thing for him. It’s interesting that they rated him a lot higher than when they heard we were going to take him out of Ireland. He’s got everything to use this as a stage to become a big, big star and I’m sure you’re going to enjoy his talents on the pitch.

Q. Andre: It’s an unforgiving Premiership. Seventh last season. What will the new season bring?

AV: We are looking to improve on last season. Top four would be good, but it’s important that we take things as they come. We haven’t started well the last few years and it’s important that we start well. We’ve trained really well and everyone’s looking forward to getting that first match under their belt.

Q. Have you finished recruiting?

ME: Yeah. I can’t afford any more. We haven’t got the biggest wage bill in the Premiership and we don’t make the biggest losses either. We try to generate money and then spend it on the team; and in that order. So I think we have got a squad this year with a bit more depth, particularly up front. You could argue that [in the forwards] there isn’t an enormous amount between the guy who has got the shirt and the guy who is shadowing him. Whereas in the backs there have been a couple of injuries and we are using some of our younger guys who we think are pretty good so we are very relaxed about that. I did go out into the market in the middle of last year but there were particular circumstances then. I wouldn’t be planning to make a big signing after the World Cup.

I’ve done the budgets and we know what are revenue and expenses are and we don’t think there will be massive differences in either of those two columns, so the squad is the squad. We have 32 players, I know we are allowed 33 so I have got one player on the roster who I could bring in if I needed to. I’d be really disappointed if I had to go to the market again.

Q. There have been suggestions that you are a bit weaker at second row.

I’m really happy with the four locks we have got. Karl Rudzki is the only one with a long term injury. I suppose three is a bit thin but that’s the budget. We’ve got some good youngsters, better than last year. We’re not going to make a big step change. I’m not going to bring in three All Blacks. That’s not what this club is about anymore. Things have changed. We are growing and improving steadily. I’m not going to bet the farm on two or three huge signings. It’s not going to happen.

Q. Tony. You have a very competitive squad this season.

TD: It’s very competitive throughout the squad. A poor performance will leave you out of the team. That is not something that has happened in the past few years.