His record of 43 league tries and a bagful of cup tries are testament to his finishing powers and his amazing feat of playing 50 consecutive league matches between September ‘89 and September ‘93 will surely never be broken. On the last day in July, ERE spent an enjoyable hour in the company of our Chief Executive - although some of what we talked about may have been overtaken by events in the last few weeks here is a transcript of our chat.

ERE : Tony, in ERE No.36 we have a list of the 10 most important scores in recent Bath rugby history. Can you tell us what three of your tries you think feature in the list?

TS : I guess there’s the semi-final try at Harlequins in the last four or five minutes. There was a try in extra-time against Gloucester in another semi-final and (pauses) I can’t think of a third one.

ERE : Here’s a small clue - it was a long range try.

TS : You mean the final against Gloucester? I actually scored it out of panic - I suddenly saw the whole of Twickenham open up before me and it was at a stage, in 1990, when I was starting to slow down a little bit. It was the panic and the shame of being caught that kept me going!

ERE : Going back further in your career, what memories do you have of your England appearances whilst a Swansea player ?

TS : To be honest with you the memories I have are pretty mixed ones on the basis that the six times I played full caps for England, five of them were on the wrong wing (the left), and they were all played at a time when I don’t think that mentally I was tough enough to play international rugby. The only regret I’ve got in my rugby career is I never felt I played international rugby when I was playing my best rugby here at Bath. Although there is a bit of regret in that, ultimately I can look back on an exciting club career so it’s not something that keeps me awake at night. I would have liked to have played in a good England team and the advantage of playing with my Bath colleagues would have been enormous.

ERE : Have you got any souvenirs of your England career?

TS : I’ve given all my shirts away. I got a cap for my first game but God knows where it is now - it may be at my parent’s house.

ERE : Talking of international caps, all Bath fans were very proud when Martin Haag, Nathan Thomas and Andy Long made their international debuts last year. On top of that, Freddie and German also played for Argentina whilst Bath players. Why has Bath Rugby been so slow in getting their framed pictures up in the clubhouse bar?

TS : I have to say I can’t answer that, I don’t know. I’ll think about that and do something.

ERE : It was only three years ago that you scored that emotional Cup Final try on your last appearance for Bath - can you reflect on what’s happened to you and Bath Rugby since then?

TS : As soon as I finished playing my intention was to have a total break from the game. I did for the first year but it was only when Andrew Brownsword asked me to be non-executive chairman on a half-a-day-a-month basis that I became involved. When problems arose I was asked to get more involved and I agreed to do that on a temporary basis. It has been a very difficult time, primarily because we’re in a massively changing marketplace and all the demands being put on the club and the company are totally different to what they were historically. It’s coping with people’s expectations which can be quite difficult.

ERE : What’s your view of the letters which appeared in the Chronicle about ticket prices next season and the lack of customer care?

TS : With regard to ticket prices for people whose income isn’t particularly large I have a heck of a lot of sympathy. The increases over the last three years have been significant. What we’ve got to do is to make sure the club can work financially and that’s a very difficult issue. What’s very clear is that all the other clubs are having the same problems. In terms of customer service one or two things we’ve tried haven’t worked - for example the two ticket situation for the Pau and London Scottish games. On the other hand we’re delighted a Supporter’s Club has been established and the players are going out in the community far more than ever before.

Ultimately though, because we’re becoming more and more commercial, people’s perception of us is that we’re just trying to make money out of them and we have to try and manage that through. I can honestly say that letters from regular supporters who are upset with what we are doing does hurt, it’s something that we do care about but ultimately we’ve still got to make it a commercial organisation as well.

ERE : Do you think that ticket price increases, allied to the sponsorship from Dry Blackthorn and Adidas means that Bath Rugby will break even next season?

TS : No, but I would suspect and hope that in the next year the financial results of the business will, for the first time, start to really move in the right direction. It really depends on what happens centrally, what happens with the European Cup and central funds coming into the organisation. One of the things that takes a while to get under control is obviously your player costs where, if historically, you’ve signed people into three year contracts that’s a fixed cost you can’t do anything about. We’re gradually bringing the cost side under more control and I think in the long term we’ll see the club moving into profit in the medium term.

ERE : Do you think you’ve got good value for money out of all the players over the last couple of years?

TS : I became Chief Executive in January 1997 and since that time we’ve made two relatively major signings in Regan and Evans and we’ve brought in a number of younger players. Certainly since then we’ve had value and will get more value from those players. There’s no doubt that the rugby league players and one or two of the more expensive signings probably didn’t work out as the club would have wanted. One of the things we’ve learned from the early stages of professionalism is that the most important thing is making sure that the players you bring in to the club are the right type of players. At the most expensive end of the market players must have a real proven track record in Rugby Union and I have to say I was never particularly keen on the signing of Rugby League players.

ERE : On ticket prices, you have been quoted in the local press blaming the small capacity of The Rec for the high ticket prices. Is it therefore safe (or dangerous) to assume that increased capacity at The Rec or a new ground will result in lower and more accessible ticket prices for season ticket holders and day trippers?

TS : I’m certain that if you look at a club like Saracens who are able to offer all sorts of things to schoolchildren and junior clubs like cash-back schemes and things like that, that a bigger stadium will enable a club to be significantly more community aware of things in terms of dragging new support in to the stadium. Increased capacity can only mean either stability of prices or improved pricing - it’s bound to do that unless the stadium is so damn expensive that it takes you the other way! My own view is that it seems to be clear that the heavy prices that have happened over the last three or four years can’t continue at such a rate in the future - unless we continue as an extremely successful side and we’ve nowhere to put people. All that reduced capacity means we are obviously trying like hell to maximise the value out of every single seat.

ERE : Are you making progress with the Council?

TS : I’ve had another meeting in the last week or so and there’s potential light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve said that by the end of this year we will announce what our intentions are and what we are hoping to achieve with the Council about what sites we are concentrating on and what sort of capacity we are hoping to have there.

ERE : Do you think we will be watching European rugby this season?

TS : Well, by the time people will be reading this we’ll know! At the moment I’d say we are hopeful that there will be European rugby - we’re obviously still waiting for the fixture list but it would add so much to the attraction to our supporters, to potential supporters and to sponsors if there was European rugby.

ERE : If Europe does happen, won’t us supporters be in a situation when the question "When is a season ticket not a season ticket?" applies?

TS : Well, the season ticket gives 14 games so that’s something we need to think about. If all we do is increase the number of games and don’t charge for those games then the costs won’t be covered.

ERE : Were you as disappointed as we were at the way performances and results tailed off last season?

TS : Yes, I was very disappointed - I felt we were playing pretty good rugby immediately after the European Cup Final and then we lost the Saracens game, when I felt we played well considering the fact we were missing some of our key players.After then there’s no doubt that we lost focus when it became clear we couldn’t win the league and I think we switched off which is unprofessional. Two players who played exceptional rugby from the European Cup Final onwards were Eric Peters and Dave Hilton but we were a team with so many injuries. We never had our half back combination together, our back row combination was changed significantly and also a hell of a lot of players who were taking the field were carrying injuries from the summer before. I’m looking forward to players who will be much sharper this season because they’ve had a rest for the first time in years.

ERE : Who’s going to be captain next season? We hear Richard Webster’s the man.

TS : I’m not saying anything - but I don’t think you’re miles away. I think he’ll be made club captain which doesn’t mean he will always be selected.

ERE : How are we going to use Ben Sturnham this season?

TS : One of the things that Andy and his team felt we needed more of was big, ball carrying forwards. That’s how we plan to use Ben - he was young player of the year last year and the second quickest player at Saracens so he’s a big guy who can take the ball forward.

ERE : Did he take much persuading to join us?

TS : A fair amount, but ultimately you never really know what makes a player decide to move from one club to another. It can be for a myriad of reasons - obviously Saracens will say it’s for money, Ben will say it’s for another reason and we’d say it’s because it’s Bath Rugby!

ERE : What’s happening on the scrum-half front next season?

TS : Well, we’ve got three scrum-halves at the moment - Andy Nichol, Steven Hatley and we’ve signed who we believe to be the best young scrum half in the British Isles, a guy called Garth Cooper who we are very excited about. And I’ll know in the next two or three days if Jon Preston is coming or not.

ERE : What changes are we likely to see down at The Rec for the match-day experience?

TS : We’re hoping to launch a kid’s club in the next few weeks to make sure that when they come they can get certain things free, meet the players and that sort of thing. One of our people is going off to Arsenal to look at their children’s club next week (It’s probably full of French and Dutch kids!! Ed.) We’re looking at the entertainment issue - a lot of people like the band, a lot of people don’t like the band (It all depends if you’re next to them or not!! Ed.) - so we’re looking to vary the entertainment a little bit. We’re looking to smarten the whole operation up so that every aspect will be better - we’ve got a new chef down there, the stewards are now settling in well and there will be things changing corporately as well. What we don’t think is the right thing to do is to make it too "American Football" with the cheerleader type stuff. We don’t believe our supporters particularly want that type of thing but we will be giving a bit more entertainment this season.

ERE : We thought the matchday programme was particularly good last season.

TS : We’re looking to continue the programme along similar lines as last season.

ERE : Do you think referees are up to providing players and spectators with the sort of game we’re all looking for to complete the entertainment package?

TS : To put it bluntly, no. I got very frustrated last year like many supporters with the varying interpretations shown by referees. The biggest problem I’ve got with refs is that you know the ones that are refereeing for their international career - because those are the refs who try to do everything by the rule book. They have a complete absence of feel for the game. Instead of asking assessors if a referee’s good all they need to do is ask the players. When I was playing I always knew who was the best referee, it was someone like Clive Norling who had this fabulous feel for a game. What I want is a referee who has this feel for the game, not somebody who knows, or supposedly knows what the rule book is all about and spoils it for the players and spectators. If you went to the players and asked who they liked then Spreadbury and Morrison would get mentioned, whereas you can refer to some people who are international panels who wouldn’t get mentioned at all.

ERE : You mentioned earlier on that you got involved in Bath Rugby on a part time basis to start with, now we read about dear old Jack possibly getting involved with Bristol on a similar basis. If Jack was to say to you "Tony, you’ve been through all this, what advice would you give me?" what would you say?

TS : Well, I’m still on a part time basis (So you’ve still got your real job to do then? Ed.) and that’s been very, very difficult. First of all, if I was speaking to Jack I’d know that he is a very talented guy. He’s been successful in business and elsewhere. I’d recommend that he takes a non-executive role rather than getting too involved in the day to day minutiae of a rugby club. I don’t think that would suit Jack but in a non-executive role he would be extremely powerful and do a very good job. Jack’s used to the pressure anyway so the first thing I’d say is look at the role and decide if you want the pressure of every body in the community wanting to talk to you about how you are screwing the job up and things like that!

ERE : Finally Tony, how important is it to Bath that Bristol survive?

TS : As a club we were genuinely very upset that Bristol got relegated. We’ve had a fabulous playing relationship over the years so we were particularly upset that Bristol found themselves in the second division, especially when they lost out to London Scottish which is a club I haven’t got a huge amount of faith in, at the moment anyway. Hopefully that will change. I think it’s very important that Bristol survives - I think they’ve got a huge role to play in rugby development in the South West and I certainly hope they do.

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