Winning, Selling and Sale

Friday 30 December 2011

Glasgow Warriors are enjoying a spell of good fortune. They are well placed in the Heineken Cup with their destiny in their own hands. They are fourth in the RaboDrect Pro12. They are at home this weekend against arch rivals Edinburgh in the 1872 Cup, having escaped loss in the reverse at Murrayfield on Monday. They have a new marketing manager. They are moving into a new ground next season. The Lamont brothers have re-signed with the franchise. They are confident.

All is looking rosy on the west coast.

Understandably they want to chase this success by speculating. That is why they snapped up Rory Lamont once he left Toulon and older brother Sean, whose contract expires in the summer. It is also why they have extended their deals with promising talents Weir, Wilson, Fusaro, Harley and Jackson as star scrum-half Chris Cusiter has also committed his future. They may well pick up others if and when they need them.

Of course Scotsmen has a reputation for being mean and thrifty and such stereotypes are unavoidable, particularly in rugby terms, after years of our former governing regime reducing squad funding. We may see the new SRU CEO increasing budgets for player contracts, but that money has to be made up somewhere else, especially if the new marketing teams want to speculate too.

Gate receipts have to go up and shirts have to be sold. The moneymen have to be satisfied if the head coach is to continue with recruiting drives and brokering deals. They need something to get people pouring through the turnstiles and putting their hands in their pockets.

Winning helps, but in a country were football still inexplicably reigns supreme the Scottish public need to have figureheads that capture the audience's imagination. This is particularly true with the Warriors who share their town with the Old Firm. They need something or someone to draw a crowd and it has to be something other than "we're doing OK in our competitions .

So they either have to claim some silverware or they have to have a character in their team that the fans want to identify with.

Well this Glasgow team is young and it is green. A major success is unlikely “although they could make the Pro12 play-offs “because they are building towards something just now. They therefore need to have the balance. They need to have a star turn within a good team.

They do have a figure like that just now in Richie Gray but he is soon to depart for Sale Sharks and the Aviva Premiership. He is always highlighted on the BBC build-up for 6 Nations and he is a marketable man, being massively tall and having a wild, unkempt, blond mane of hair. He can be used to sell Scotland shirts, but Glasgow cannot market the kid as of June. They need someone else.

So who will be their marketing tool? Who will do the adverts for local businesses and bear the brunt of the photocall requests? Glasgow may well hope the Lamont brothers can do this in tandem. They are internationally known and are big, handsome brutes. One of them even featured in the fabled Stade FranÃ§ais nude calendar. Perhaps they hope that they can convince John Barclay to stay on and be that figurehead. Of course captain Al Kellock may just perform the role alongside Chris Cusiter out of necessity.

The true hope will always be that a fresh face will appear out of nowhere. A lot of expectations are being pinned on young utility back Stuart Hogg in Glasgow. He has been ever present for the Warriors this season, despite initially being on an Elite Development contract, and he is moving to 13 from full-back in the deciding game of the 1872 Cup with Edinburgh. Rumour has it this is also something Scotland's own Head Coach Andy Robinson has requested to see. He may be looking at the 19-year-old in such a role with an eye on finding a new creative outlet for his struggling National backline.

As of this morning Hogg has signed on for a full-time contract which lasts until May 2015. If Hogg shoots to prominence in the way many expect him to then Glasgow may well have their new star. He may not be as instantly recognisable as Gray or have his swagger, but the young man may capture imaginations with his play. After all there was nothing instantly physically noticeable about the young Shane Williams or the fledgling Brian O'Driscoll. Maybe all Hogg needs is a series of atrocious haircuts...