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He presided over decline on and off the pitch, the nadir being the bid to sign Roger Randle as attack coach
The news that Ian Flanagan is to step down as the chief executive of Munster Rugby is not the least bit surprising. Ever since Munster commissioned an independent review into its governance at the end of last season following a series of missteps off the pitch as well as poor form on the field, it always seemed a question of “when” rather than “if”.
In the event, as is often the way of these things, Flanagan has announced his intention to step down before the findings of the review have been made public. Whether the two are connected will become clearer in due course, but in truth Flanagan’s position had become virtually untenable after the flawed and ultimately failed attempt to sign Roger Randle as Munster’s next attack coach in the wake of Mike Prendergast moving on.
That former players such as Killian Keane, Mick O’Driscoll and Billy Holland should step down from the Professional Games Board was a damning indictment of Flanagan and Munster’s governance with him as CEO. It was also followed by distinguished individuals stepping down from the province’s commercial board.
But leaving that episode aside, the truth is that Flanagan has presided over a period of decline for Munster on and off the pitch, despite the United Rugby Championship triumph of 2022-23 ending an 11-year trophy drought. Results in the Champions Cup have reached their lowest point since the 1990s, with Munster unable to secure a home knockout tie in the Champions Cup since the quarter-final exit in a goalkicking competition against Toulouse.
This has contributed to lost revenue compared to the glory days of the Noughties and even the 2010s when Munster regularly reached the semi-finals of the Champions Cup and the URC. Further damaging morale, Flanagan had also informed staff of the need for a package of voluntary redundancies on a Zoom call while the squad were in South Africa preparing for a URC match.
There are clear signs that the group of benefactors who had backed Munster, and helped them to attract the likes of RG Snyman and Damien de Allende to the province, were no longer prepared to fund such marquee signings under the current management. Not all of this can be laid at the feet of Flanagan, but he made little attempt to state his or Munster’s case in contrast to his predecessor, the late Garrett Fitzgerald.
All of this and more was compounded by Flanagan applying for the then vacant role of CEO at the Football Association of Ireland , for which he was shortlisted, last year. From that point onwards, Flanagan seemed to lose a lot of respect and he was identified as part of the reason Munster had declined, not least by former players, with both direct and indirect criticism coming his way in the biographies of Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony .
Whether unfairly or not, his departure will not be lamented. From the outset, Flanagan seemed like a poor appointment, and it would be interesting to know if he was paid compensation as the Munster statement does not reveal if that was the case. Indeed, many within the organisation and outside, not least former players, would like to see this as the spark for a change which Munster badly need in tandem with a newly designed coaching ticket.
What’s more, pending the appointment of an interim replacement for Flanagan, they would like to see the reboot go further than just a new full-time CEO. Opportunity knocks now.
United-Rugby-Championship Champions-Cup Rg-Snyman Football-Association-Of-Ireland-Fai Conor-Murray Peter-Omahony
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