It’s some 20 months now since David Buttress was installed as chairman of the WRU-owned Dragons.
The man who had been co-founder and former chief executive of Just Eat came in with high hopes for the region, proclaiming they could become Wales’ strongest team within five years.
It’s fair to say it’s not been plain sailing. There have been rocky times along the way, with the side struggling for results and coach Bernard Jackman departing in December.
But now they have a new Rugby Director in former England international Dean Ryan, an ambition to return to independent ownership and big plans for developing Rodney Parade.
So how does the 41-year-old Buttress view life at the region today and what exactly are his ideas for the future?
Rugby correspondent Simon Thomas sat down with the self-confessed “entrepreneur and Welsh rugby nut” to find out.
Q: What was it persuaded you to go for Dean Ryan as Rugby Director?
A: Well, it’s been a highly competitive and thorough process. We have met numerous people over the last few months and Dean was clearly the outstanding candidate.
If you look at his track record and experience in rugby, it’s exceptional. His reputation goes before him.
His breadth of knowledge around the game, not just on the field, but off it, is a very important thing we need here.
It was obvious that not only did he have the experience and expertise to create the success we want at the Dragons, but also that he could add and contribute at board level to the strategic development of our club.
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Q: You parted company with your last head coach half way through the season. Why will this marriage work any better?
A: Dean and I have had numerous very blunt and honest conversations about how challenging this will be.
Whenever we finished a conversation, I always left feeling super excited about what we could do.
We are looking to build something that’s highly successful in the long term, so we need to do things a little bit differently to what’s gone before.
The definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is some kind of insanity.
My experience of building things in the commercial world is it takes seven, eight years minimum to get anywhere.
Dean and I have a clear understanding that it is going to take a very long term partnership on both sides to build something sustainable and successful here.
For this to work on the field, I have got to do a good job off the field. There is no good holding Dean to account if I'm not holding myself to account. That’s what partnership means to me.
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Q: The region is currently owned by the WRU. Is that likely to change any time soon?
A: I am heading up a buy-out group of one or two people that want to take the Dragons back into private ownership.
That would absolutely be the favourable outcome. We would then have control of our destiny here in Gwent and we could make our own decisions.
Bluntly, the Dragons is not advantaged in any way with the current ownership structure.
In order to create what we want here, it’s very important to have control.
To build things, you need to have that clarity.
We need to make some decisions that will do the right thing by us and we can only do that if we have one hat on and that’s the Dragons.
That’s the hat I think the people round our board table need to be wearing.
Q: How difficult will it be extricating yourselves from the WRU? How much will it cost?
A: Obviously, the challenge will be finding a commercial arrangement that works for both sides.
We are having those conversations with the WRU and we are hoping we can get it done.
I absolutely believe it’s better for the other regions and for everyone in Welsh rugby that the Dragons go back to being an independent business.
It makes more sense to have all four regions in the same ownership structure.
We would all agree it’s better suited for the professional game in Wales for the Dragons to be independent.
In the end, it is the right thing to do and you’d like to think people will find a way in those circumstances.
If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I will continue to be involved and support the team because I really do love it.
We would make the best of the current structure we have, but I don’t think that would be the ideal outcome for us or Welsh rugby.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk about redeveloping Rodney Parade. What exactly are your plans on that front?
A: We would like to take the end of the Bisley Stand across and extend behind the posts to improve the facilities for corporate hospitality and also spectator seating. Our hospitality suites are at full capacity and we need more. That would also give us new meeting rooms.
Beyond that, going into the cabbage patch at the old clubhouse end, we see that as some kind of hotel, restaurant, leisure complex, gym.
The purpose of that would be generating money on non-match days and bringing customers into Rodney Parade, making it a place where families come and spend time and money.
If you walk out of the ground on a night where there’s not rugby or football here, the lights are out and it’s dark.
At the same time, I can hear people over the bridge there enjoying the city centre, spending money.
It’s insane as a business person to think you have a city centre location, yet on most nights of the week the lights are off.
So we need to get it so the lights are on and it’s working harder for us. That’s the key about Rodney Parade. That’s what it’s worth.
The key value is what it can generate for this region.
Any money generated from those new facilities, we would invest all of that into the playing squad.
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Q: What would you say to those who argue that money should be divided equally between the four regions as the land is owned by the WRU?
A: That’s fine, as long as we then introduce a concept of true fairness across all funding in Welsh rugby.
The argument falls apart quite quickly at that point because fairness in terms of money distribution doesn’t exist.
So people should not roll out that argument just because it feels convenient at the time for their personal benefit, because I think that’s weak.
Any money that we generate here, of course it should be invested back into the Dragons because right now we are the single least beneficiary of investment from professional rugby in Wales.
The money isn’t divied up fairly at all. It’s distributed based on a notional sense of fairness which ends up with the money not being equally distributed.
I’m ok with that, but then lets not pretend there is a concept of fairness because it doesn’t exist.
We should have the right to develop our ground to make money to invest in our team. I don’t think that is unfair at all.
This desire to redevelop the land is another reason why it makes more sense for the Dragons to be independently owned.
You have a 100 per cent focus on making it happen if you are privately owned.
It becomes the single and most important priority, whereas if you are part of a much bigger group it sits along other big priorities.
Q: Newport County will be taking 19,000 supporters to Wembley for their League One play-off. This is a biggest sporting area so how do you go about maximising that?
A: If you look at the passion this region has for rugby and football, if we can’t harness that it’s because we are not doing a good enough job.
We should to be honest about that and that definitely sits at my door.
Is there a lot of passion in this city for sport, yes there is. If we do a good job, people will clearly come. But we’ve got to do a good job.
If I look at the quality of performances in sporadic moments, it’s clear there’s a lot of potential here.
Has the potential been maximised over the previous seasons and years? Absolutely not.
That’s been a long-term systemic problem, not a recent one. Are we responsible for changing that over time? Yes that’s what we have all signed up for and that’s what we are excited about.
Do we need to get consistency and better standards week-in, week-out? Yes we do. Is that easy? No. But that’s why we are all here.
Q: You are well into your second year as chairman now. Any regrets about taking the role on or are you enjoying it?
A: About a month ago, my wife said to me ‘I’ve never seen you as happy going to work as when you go to the Dragons’.
I think that’s a good judge of it.
I go back to Judgement Day and beating the Scarlets. I said to my wife ‘That was honestly the best moment of my life.’
She looked at me as if to say ‘Are you having a laugh?’
At the time it did feel like that, but on reflection I’d have been wiser to say thing other things, like the kids and marriage!
But for sure it was a special moment and that’s what sport can give you. It can give you those irrational moments of absolute elation and that’s what we’d like to get a bit more of if we can here at the Dragons.
Rugby has been a massive part of my life. As a child, my grandfather was heavily involved in the sport, with Pontypool as a treasurer.
The sport matters to me and this area matters to me.
We are hopefully not just building a good rugby team, but providing people with some enjoyment and pleasure now and again.
