On the change of Head Coach
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks as a change at Head Coach is always going to be difficult. We’ve an incredibly good squad, who are a talented group of players, that haven’t been playing to the best of their abilities. I’m confident in the change that we’ve made to the coaching set-up, and we continue to work closely with the IRFU.”
Recent performances
“We understand recent performances haven’t been as good as they should be. We have a squad that can absolutely deliver, as we proved against Leinster and Racing already this season, but we’ve also had performances that are inconsistent. We want to be as good a team as we know we can be.”
Senior Men’s squad
“When you hear talk of a mass exodus, it’s absolutely not the case. We will have as strong, if not a stronger squad, going into next year. Our top players are staying at Ulster. When players are moving on, it’s because we have some really good talent coming through the Academy, and the pathways, and these are all guys that have started to perform this year. It’s genuinely a bit of a refresh of the squad.”
Professional performance set-up
“Bryn Cunningham is experienced, with a real sense of everything that’s going on in the game, and he will take more of a lead on all aspects of the professional game through to the end of the season. I’m excited about Richie coming in on an interim basis for starters too. We’ve got a number of players with experience in the squad, but we’ve also got a group of younger guys who are not performing at their best and need coached. He’s a coach with a good track record of getting the best out of a group of young players, as shown extraordinarily well with the Ireland U20s, and Richie knows a lot of the guys already.”
Club finances
“Our revenues have grown year-on-year, but at the same time, we have been dealing with inflationary costs and a number of other factors largely outside of our control that have affected our expenditure. In a model that relies heavily on gate revenues, we now have fewer home matches to be able to generate additional income, alongside those inflationary aspects and some adjustments to our various sources of external funding. It will take a period of readjustment this year, and into next year, and we are working with the IRFU to get to a sustainable solution.”
3G pitch
“There are a number of reasons why we installed the 3G pitch, financed in part through an IRFU loan. Firstly, we wanted a consistent high-performance surface, and the pitch at the stadium was around 100 years old and wasn’t allowing us to play the type of rugby we wanted to play with our exciting backs at certain points of the year. Secondly, we were starting to move a number of the domestic finals from the stadium. This is the home of rugby in Ulster as well as Ulster Rugby, so the only viable solution was an artificial surface – especially when you also consider the need to be able to cope with increasingly volatile weather conditions. In time, we hope to use the 3G pitch to diversify our income streams, whilst ensuring we’re respectful to local residents.”
Season Ticket prices
“We know that we have a responsibility to supporters, as everyone is going through their own cost-of-living crisis, and we want the games here to continue to be accessible. When you have financial challenges, the easy thing to do would be to raise prices significantly, but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. Looking ahead into next year, there will be slight increases in Season and Match tickets, but that’s not blanket across all parts of the stadium – and it will be a relatively low increase, which we’ll be coming out with an update on shortly.”
Speculation on social media
“It’s difficult to comment on some of the speculation you see flying about online. I went through a long time when I came across here when I was very active on social media. I was open and accessible to people in terms of engaging, and that really took its toll on me personally. I stepped away completely and continue to do that but, when I reflect on that, we’ve not engaged enough as a club, and I’ve not been accessible enough in other ways, and that’s important part of what I do. That is a learning for me.”
Supporter engagement
“I really care about this place, and I love this club and want us to be as successful as we can. I’m a supporter like everyone else, and that’s grown even more over the past five years that I’ve been at Ulster. Every decision that we make, difficult or otherwise, is in the best interest of the club and the sport. We want to be moving in the right direction, and we’re really appreciative of the support from our Season Ticket holders.”