‘We’ve got to wake up and smell the coffee’: Tony Rowe on Exeter’s new American frontier

Tony Rowe has not yet had time to ensure Exeter’s proposed new American owners feel fully at home in the west. On a damp morning at Sandy Park no one is wearing a Stetson hat and there is not even a horse tied up outside reception. Maybe that will be part of the handover package assuming the Chiefs’ 700-odd members vote in favour next month of proceeding with the sale of their 155-year-old club.

The winds of change, though, are kicking up the local dust. For the past 33 years Rowe has been integral to one of British team sport’s most romantic Cinderella stories. But romance doesn’t pay the bills in modern pro rugby and times are a-changing. At 77 years old, it is easy to understand why Rowe fancies handing over the reins to a smartly dressed stranger from out of town.

The deal has already been done, subject to the membership’s blessing at an extraordinary general meeting on 7 May. Waiting in the wings is a mega-wealthy multi-sport investor already involved in British football. Let’s just say it makes the good ol’ days at the muddy County Ground and promotion to the Premiership in 2010 feel like sepia-tinted snapshots from another age.

Because, argues Rowe, it is time for English club rugby to pursue fresh horizons rather than endlessly looking back in anger. “We’ve got to wake up and smell the coffee,” he says from across the huge table – a bartender could definitely slide a glass of whiskey down it – in Exeter’s boardroom. “I’ve effectively run a business for the last 30-odd years for a shareholder who’s got no money. What I’m looking forward to is an investor who’s got some money. That’ll be a massive difference for me.”

The proposed ownership change is part of an eye-catching trend. Newcastle Red Bulls and Bath have already attracted significant new investment and Rowe wants Exeter to join the modern-day gold rush. “I think it will put us in a really good place to take advantage of the future. Whether you like it or not professional sport is all about money. We need money to survive.”

Which raises multiple questions prior to the Chiefs’ significant home game against Prem leaders Northampton on Saturday. While the Americans are apparently keen to preserve the club’s identity, they are not going to sit around idly burning dollar bills. Expanding the 10-team Prem will be a priority, suggests Rowe. “Ten clubs is not enough. Financially it doesn’t work for anybody. We’ve got to get to 12 clubs and, in my view, we should go to 14. I still believe we should approach the Welsh. I think it would pump life into Welsh rugby and we need the games financially.

“There’s talk about bringing two new English clubs into an expanded league in 2029-30 and personally I’d like to see two Welsh clubs as well. Welsh rugby is on its arse, isn’t it? I don’t think they can afford three pro clubs ... I think they can only really afford two. There’s a lot of politics in Welsh rugby but what if Swansea and Cardiff joined an expanded Prem? It happens in cricket. Why not in rugby? From a logistical point of view I don’t think any of the 10 Prem clubs would find it a struggle to drive to Wales for a weekend game.”

If it came to pass, believes Rowe, the future can be brighter for all concerned. “All the stars are aligned to transform English rugby beyond where it is today. It’s really come on in the last few years but we’ve got to move it on financially. Covid and the mini-recession afterwards cost us £25m and we’ve still not fully recovered.” Among other things he blames the previous government and the Rugby Football Union for not helping more. “The government promised us a grant which at the last minute they turned into a loan. And the RFU decided they would only give us 50% of what they were meant to give us.

“Every single Prem chairman would tell you Covid cost them in excess of £20m each. Without the chairmen and owners you wouldn’t have an English Premiership and you wouldn’t have an England. Most of my money I’ve put in here to keep the club alive. Do you want to buy a hotel? I sold my business three years ago and I can’t put any more money in. It’s not fair on my family. The time has come where we’ve got to be very sensible about our futures.”

Complicating things, believes Rowe, is the £200m deal signed in late 2018 which granted the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners 27% of its commercial rights. “We should never have sold the shares to CVC. They’re muttering that they’re going to do something now but are they? They haven’t done much for the last six years. They’re sitting pretty, aren’t they? They get 27% of all our commercial income. Happy days. They’ve had most of their money back already. We shouldn’t have done that and I don’t think we’ve been aggressive enough in the marketplace to get the sponsorship we need. We’ve got no razzmatazz about our sport.”

Which, of course, is very much an American speciality. How it chimes with the preference of many older Exeter fans for a simple pasty and a pint of Otter will be interesting, but Rowe is equally conscious of the next generation. “Our future supporters are millennials. They see life differently. They’re the money that is going to keep it alive and we’ve got to make sure we’re taking the game to them.” Sure, but how on earth do you jazz up a pasty? “You just put chips with it; they’re about to ban them in schools.”

Boom-boom. Rowe is optimistic, either way, that even the Chiefs’ double-winning year of 2020 can be eclipsed. “The last 25 years of the club have been the most successful to date and I believe we can step on again. We’ll be telling the members who the investor is and what we’ve got on the table from them on 7 May. It’s exciting times.

“They’re a long-term investor and they understand the sport. They’ve asked me whether I’ll stay and I’ve agreed to do so. They don’t muck about and I don’t muck about. I think we’re going to step into another era again. Why wouldn’t I want to be involved?”

All the more so if the “new” Exeter can retain its Devonian heart and soul. “I’ve made it very clear to these people that you change those things at your peril,” says Rowe. “The analogy I use is that we’re all on this bus heading for success. We’ve all the right people on the bus at the moment but we’re going to run out of fuel. What these guys are going to do is fill up the bus with enough fuel to take us on to even greater success.” Buckle up, y’all, and enjoy the ride.

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