Simon Massie-Taylor has pledged to usher in wide-ranging reforms to change the face of English club rugby.
The Premiership Rugby chief executive outlined plans for a financial monitoring panel and an independent sporting commission that should come into force next year.
Clubs chief Massie-Taylor and RFU boss Bill Sweeney were challenged to consider their positions in the recent Department for Culture, Media and Sport hearings in Parliament.
The two top administrators were criticised in the wake of Wasps and Worcester falling into administration.
Massie-Taylor has responded by insisting that he is here to stay – and precisely to bring about the sweeping governance reforms required to revitalise English club rugby.
“The reason I came into the role in the first place was to address these challenges,” he told Standard Sport.
“My mandate is to fix the foundations and grow the sport, and I’ve only just started.”
Wasps fell into administration on October 17, after Worcester had suffered that fate on September 26.
Consortiums bidding to rescue both clubs will have extra time to state their case for inclusion in next season’s Championship, in continued discussions with the RFU.
Massie-Taylor took the Premiership helm in January after five years with the RFU, and insists the English club body has made good headway with ambitious and fundamental administrative changes.
Premiership Rugby has already started the recruitment process for an independent chair of the forthcoming financial monitoring panel, to boost the governing body’s oversight on club fiscal health.
The new sporting commission will make all major decisions for the organisation, and will comprise independent representatives of the clubs, as well as a current and a former player.
The commission will do away with the current structure where club owners vote on big moves, with unanimity required for ratification.
Premiership Rugby has appointed a chief growth officer, with Massie-Taylor targeting new investors for the league’s clubs once the reforms bed in.
Massie-Taylor’s “less is more” mantra for league structure hints heavily at a 10-team Premiership from 2024-25, by which time the English top-flight must have a new agreement in place.
“We are looking very seriously at the format of our league, and there’s a general direction around less is more,” said Massie-Taylor.
“But then there’s also a very conscious need to look at the second tier and how that fits into the system.
“With that I can see a world where Premiership Rugby takes more responsibility to promote and to commercially manage the second tier, and potentially operationally as well.
“To really fuel growth and to get to that sustainable level, we are going to need a new breed of investors who are confident investing in the club game.
“Come the 2024-25 season, we will have a very different looking league, a very different looking format.We’re talking about 20 years’ worth of governance reform in the space of a few months.
“Events of the last few months have accelerated many things, but the clubs are very supportive of change and evolution. Coming into the role in January, it was about putting a strategy in place, and we did that in the first four months.
“This isn’t just a knee-jerk reaction to Worcester and Wasps, that has just accelerated a lot of this work.
“Greater financial insight and visibility will help build a more sustainable system, pushing through the structures, disciplines and regulations that are needed.
“Probably the most major thing for us going forward is establishing the independent sporting commission that will be responsible for all major decisions for the league, sporting decisions for the league.
“This will be designed to create more efficient decision-making, that has at times been a real inhibitor to growth and progression.
“We’re moving to a stage now where that will be established over the next few months.”
Massie-Taylor also sounded a positive note on Worcester and Wasps, with the prospective bidders on both clubs working hard to prepare viable concerns to launch next season.
“We strongly hope that both clubs will be playing in the Championship next year, and equally that they’ve got plans where they can become Premiership-eligible again,” said Massie-Taylor.
“They are important to our ecosystem, but equally the RFU needs to do its checks and everything else.
“We’ve had a strong signal from both preferred bidders that the P share isn’t important to their short-term plans, and that they are intending on being in the Championship for a few years.”
