Magners League Official Website : Lineen appointed as new Glasgow Warriors head coach

Lineen appointed as new Glasgow Warriors head coach

28 March 2006, 10:28 am

By Jonathan McConnell

Scottish Rugby has announced that Sean Lineen has been appointed as head coach of Glasgow Warriors. The Glasgow and Scotland assistant coach will take up the post with immediate effect.

The Chief Executive of Scottish Rugby, Gordon McKie, explained there were a number of reasons for the decision to change the top job at the Warriors:

“Glasgow is having a poor and erratic season, with disappointing results in the Celtic League and Heineken Cup and consequently disappointing turn outs from supporters for their home games. The team contributes considerably fewer players to the Scotland national squad than in the past, which is far from ideal and so it’s time to make some changes.

“It’s vitally important that Glasgow and all our pro teams do well and that the professional game is a success in Scotland. There should be a natural flow of talent for the Scotland coach Frank Hadden to consider for national squad selection. This has not happened in enough numbers of late, so I’m looking to Sean Lineen to turn this around.

“I’d like to congratulate Sean. With a stable support staffing structure already in place, I believe he is ideally placed to make significant improvement with the Warriors. We all want to see the team stronger and more successful than it is at present.”

Commenting on the news, Lineen said: “This is an exciting challenge for me. Glasgow has so much to offer and there’s a lot of talent in this squad and a strong desire to do well. I’m looking forward to stepping up to head coach enormously.”

Jon Petrie, the Glasgow Warriors captain, added: “We all know it’s been a difficult season for us and at some times pretty frustrating. More than anything else we need to find a greater team spirit and I’m sure we can do that with Sean.”

Hugh Campbell steps down from the head coach position and will be considering other options within Scottish Rugby, which include moving into a specialist coaching role that may involve scrummaging and forward play.

It has also been decided to re-advertise the head coach position at Edinburgh Gunners. Todd Blackadder returns to New Zealand at the end of the season and several candidates have been interviewed for the post in recent weeks. However as Blackadder remains in post until May, Scottish Rugby has decided to take the opportunity to look afresh for a suitable replacement.