Ambitious Delaney looks to future

By David Rhodes
BBC Blast reporter, Nottingham

Nottingham director of rugby Glenn Delaney played for the club in 1996

Nottingham may still be licking their wounds after a couple of recent league defeats, but director of rugby Glenn Delaney is just glad his side are still in existence.

Although recent form has been disappointing for a side looking to challenge for the Championship title, the setbacks seem of less consequence to a club that has suffered a traumatic time over the past 12 months.

In November 2008, chairman Geoff Huckstep revealed that a financial crisis meant Nottingham could be forced to close by Christmas.

But a huge off-field effort raised the £150,000 needed to stave off the threat and now Delaney's side are also progressing on the pitch.

As a club I think we're better prepared than we have ever been, and we're now living within our means

Glenn Delaney

"It's quite remarkable that we're still here as a business," Delaney told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"It is testament to the fans and sponsors who came out in their droves, and to the staff who did the hard stuff in taking pay cuts to make sure we came through."

Despite losing several star players since the end of last season, Nottingham are handily placed in third spot in the Championship.

And although the club are still homeless and playing their rugby at Notts County's Meadow Lane, Delaney insists that they are as stable as they have been for many years.

"Once you go through these kind of episodes it can only make you stronger. As a club I think we're better prepared than we have ever been, and we're now living within our means."

Nottingham ran into financial turmoil because of a financial agreement that fell through on the sale of a piece of land at their former ground in Beeston, Island Avenue.

"We were at the stage where we had the completion documentation done by the housing developer who was actually buying the piece of land off us.

"But then they decided not to put forward their planning application to the council because of the state of the housing market at that time," Delaney said.

Against that perilous financial backdrop, the former London Irish forward could have been forgiven for thinking about his own future.

If the club had gone into liquidation, he, like the rest of the playing staff, would have been made redundant, but Delaney's first thought was for the welfare of his players.

"At that time you didn't think too much about yourself because you have the responsibility for the rugby department and everyone you are employing," he said. "I was more concerned about others than myself.

"But in the cold light of day I was thinking, 'I've got a family to support, it's a pretty tough time - hang on, this is actually going to affect me'.

"So then, yes, for me there was a lot of concern and a lot of worry at that time."

Having made it through to the end of the 2008/9 season, the club was then nearly made homeless after Notts County's new owners Munto Finance attempted to end the groundshare agreement between the clubs, with a year left on the contract.

We've counted a lot of things in but nothing has been counted out

Glenn Delaney on where the club will play next season

And although the deal will now remain in place until the end of this campaign, attention has already turned to where the side will play their rugby next season.

Last weekend the club played a one-off match at Leicester's Welford Road, but Delaney said there are still no definitive plans.

"In the past we've only ever done the arrangement with Meadow Lane in January or February time," he explained.

"So we are well ahead as to where we'd normally be. But nothing has been decided at this stage. We've counted a lot of things in but nothing has been counted out, so whatever will be, will be."