Following Cecil Duckworth’s decision to step down as executive chairman of Worcester Warriors, Observer reporter Geoff Berkeley spoke to their new president about his relationship with the club which stretches back more than two decades.
HIS PASSION for the city’s rugby club which he helped transform into one England’s biggest is unlikely to ever wane. But Cecil Duckworth acknowledges his influence behind the scenes at Worcester Warriors cannot go on forever.
Last week the 77-year-old announced that he was going to step down as executive chairman to become the club’s president.
This was a position he had held for more than 20 years as he notably oversaw Warriors’ transition into the professional game and their promotion to the Premiership.
However, speaking to The Observer, Cecil said it was time to hand over his responsibilities to his successor Anthony Glossop and incoming chief executive Jim O’Toole as he looks to take on more of a backseat role at the club and spend more time with his family.
“Gradually you have got to back off and hand over to younger people,” he said.
“Anthony is younger than me and he will be handing over to someone else in a couple of years’ time.
“It is part of a process where you have to accept that you cannot go on forever.
“I gave up the executive chairmanship a couple of years ago because there is a time when you have to think about your spare time. I have now got a grandchild which takes up a lot of my time, so my whole life is different to what it was.
“I now feel – for the first time – that I have retired and I owe that to my wife and my family.”
The word “retirement” seemed difficult for Cecil to say as he reflected on his time at Warriors, the transformation of the Sixways site and the success of his own business, Worcester Heat Systems.
But he added: “I will still be passionately interested in the club’s success and their future, but I need others who will now do it and I have had a lot of influence in getting those people in to do that job, so hopefully we have got that right.”
After selling off his company to Bosch in 1992, Cecil, who reportedly earned about £30million from the deal, then came across a new venture to get his teeth into.
Worcester RFC were situated in Midlands One, with just over 100 fans turning out to watch them when the club’s bosses asked him to get behind their ambitious plans. And after weighing up his options Cecil agreed.
With the help of his funds, Worcester quickly rose through the ranks before reaching National One – now known as the Championship – in 1999.
For the next three years the board’s dream was put on hold as Leeds and Rotherham beat them to promotion. But that barrier was finally broken in 2004 as they reached the promised land of the Premiership, which he admitted was one of his greatest achievements.
“The biggest highlight for me was getting into the Premiership because we started off with that in aim in mind,” he said. “Most people thought it was fanciful as we were in Midlands One, so to actually achieve that and have crowds of nearly 10,000 was really special.”
Cecil said he was also proud to see a number of the club’s youngsters, include Tom Wood, Graham Kitchener and Matt Kvesic go on to represent England.
But as frustration grew over their decisions to move elsewhere to continue their promising careers, Cecil felt a change was needed.
“We have had a good academy in the past, which I wanted to concentrate on because of my industrial experience,” he said.
“We wanted to have a great development department and produce a better boiler than anyone else, so we thought we would do the same in rugby and we were really successful.
“But unfortunately we did not kick on. We have attempted to get the right person to run the rugby side, but it has not worked out, so we ended up bringing in foreign players.
“Dean (Ryan) has gone back to where I started as he was willing to build from the bottom and if success comes hopefully players would want to stay.”
Worcester currently find themselves in the Championship after being relegated in Dean Ryan’s first season as director of rugby.
But Cecil said he was confident Warriors’ future was in safe hands with Ryan and the backing of Sixways Holdings Limited, which now controls the club.
“It is still my dream to win see Worcester win the Premiership and win the European Championship,” he added.
“There is a chance of that happening in my lifetime, so hopefully we will be able to celebrate that together.”
