Rowell mixes business with pressure

Bristol are trying to marry the best of two worlds. Hugh Godwin finds out how it works

Chris Sheasby's face was a picture. The then Wasps No. 8 had just been appointed captain of England for a midweek match on tour in Argentina, and was cheerily favouring the press with some bon mots on the subject. Jack Rowell, England's coach, walked past, stopped and came back. "Off to bed, Mr Sheasby, there's a good chap." It was about 10pm.

And Sheasby, of course, went off to bed. Better men than he, Gungadin, knew not to mess with Big Jack. Eight times a cup winner with Bath, not to mention once with Gosforth in his native North-east, Rowell took England to a Grand Slam and three Triple Crowns between 1994 and 1997. The following year he joined the board at Bristol, where today, as managing director, he will watch his side take on Gloucester in the Powergen Cup.

When Malcolm Pearce ploughed £4m into rescuing Bristol from financial receivership in the dark days of 1998, it is a moot point whether he brought Rowell in as a non-exeuctive director for his rugby or his commercial acumen. Rowell was awarded the OBE for services to rugby, but he has also had a distinguished business career, joining Procter & Gamble when he left Oxford University in the 1960s, and helping to revive the fortunes of the £1bn Dalgety Group a couple of decades later. Today, Rowell maintains "several directorships, in food and biotech", but his two days a week at Bristol became five last year, when he was appointed managing director with a brief to improve both the playing and commercial operations.

Bob Dwyer, the voluble Australian, had restored Bristol to the Premiership at the first time of asking in 1999, but later returned Down Under to New South Wales, and his assistant, Dean Ryan, was installed as head coach. Pearce – Bristol's owner and chairman and, incidentally, fervent Bath supporter during Rowell's glory days – decided Ryan would benefit from a guiding hand. Rowell's training ground appearances are infrequent, but his experience essential with Bristol currently in mid-table in the Premiership, and top of their pool in the European Shield.

"Malcolm [Pearce] gave Bristol rugby the kiss of life," said Rowell. "He enjoys seeing the guys win so, as he says, he has not enjoyed it much in the last three years. But he's a rugby man through and through, which is just as well because investment in the game hasn't always been a rational move." One of Pearce's chief headaches after Bristol's brush with extinction was the loss of their home at the Memorial Ground. They still play at the renamed Memorial Stadium, but only as tenants of Bristol Rovers, having sold a half-stake in the ground to the football club for £2.3m in April 1998, then surrendered the remainder for a paltry £10,000 upon relegation to the Second Division that summer. England players Kyran Bracken, Martin Corry and Garath Archer left – although Archer has since returned – and disaffected supporters did the same.

So building a crowd such as the one of 10,000 for the recent win over Bath has meant re-building some bridges. "There were supporters who put money into debentures, and lost it," said Rowell. "Others don't like coming because we share with soccer, and we have the soccer stewarding arrangements, which mean you can't float around and have a chat and a drink. Famously, the club used to be linked with the 40-odd clubs in the Bristol Combination. It was Bristol rugby for Bristolians. Now we have what I call the 'new Bristol' we can't just snap our fingers and get back to the crowds that came out of the old fixtures against the Cardiffs and Llanellis. It's a mountain to climb, but we're climbing it."

The strength of rugby in what is today a 700,000 strong catchment area was never better illustrated than when the "Memorial" prefix to the ground's name was adopted to honour the 300 local players who gave their lives in the First World War. To get a grip on the club's future, Rowell's commercial and community teams have looked to the past, forging new links with the Combination teams. Yet though crowds are up 42 per cent from last season, and the 18 hospitality boxes are regularly full, Rowell regards a move as essential to taking the pressure off Pearce's wallet.

"We recognise that we represent the city," Rowell said, "and that the facilities for spectators are important. We need to build revenues and build gates, to drive Bristol to a break-even business." Options include a share with Bristol City at Ashton Gate, or developing elsewhere in the area, say at Clifton. "The Cliftonians may not necessarily like that," Rowell points out – he coached there, too, many moons ago. "We have been talking to Bristol City, and my view is that sharing facilities can be the best way forward, unless you're lucky enough to have something to start with, which Bristol don't any more."

On the playing front Rowell helped recruit, among others, the Argentina half-backs Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi, England's dynamic prop, Julian White, and the highly promising outside centre, Phil Christophers. Both of today's second rows, Alex Brown and Andrew Sheridan, are in the England development squad. A dose of Australian pragmatism comes from Jason Little as captain and James Grant as backs coach.

Last week, Bristol lost bravely and narrowly at Leicester, having lost White to a first half neck injury which will keep him out today. A try by Contepomi had Pearce on his feet and excitedly punching the air in the Welford Road directors' box, but Rowell remained calm.

The former chief executive of Golden Wonder is used to delivering crisp verdicts. "The demand on the club owners is 'you keep investing, fellas, but you might go bankrupt if you get relegated'. That is a huge financial conundrum which would defy normal investment criteria. Our brief to Dean Ryan is to establish us in the top half of the table, then challenge for honours next year. A box-office team, but no miracles."