Tigers axe recruitment tzar as ruthless Welford Road clear-out continues

Leicester Tigers are continuing their clearout out of backroom staff at the club, as they confirmed the axing of recruitment tzar Jan McGinity.

McGinity has been responsible for player contracts, salary cap management and "managing relationships with key stakeholders within the game", with a focus on the player recruitment industry. He had worked closely with former Director of Rugby, Geordan Murphy, who parted ways with the club mid-season last month. Murphy's departure was announced the day after Rory Underwood removed himself from a non-executive role on the board of the Gallagher Premiership side.

A club statement reads: "Leicester Tigers can confirm that Jan McGinity will leave the club as head of elite performance recruitment.

"As part of strategic change led by chief executive Andrea Pinchen, and alongside structural change regarding the role of Director of Rugby, resource is to be invested elsewhere in developing the club’s recruitment and retention function, and identifying the best available talent at all levels.

"The decision has been taken now, with recruitment finalised for 2020/21, to allow the new team led by head coach Steve Borthwick to have the best possible opportunities, time and resource in looking ahead to strengthening the squad for the future.

"The club thanks Jan for his service and wishes him well for the future."

McGinity, ironically, was one of the main forces behind the club's mass clearout of 21 players back in May of this year.

“Sometimes tough decisions have to be made,” said McGinity. “In this time there is a lot of uncertainty and it is tough to inform individuals they are no longer going to be part of the journey."

McGinity has been head of sports operations at the Scottish Rugby Union from 2017 to 2019, following a four-year spell as head of recruitment in Premiership Rugby with Worcester Warriors and 10 years’ experience overseeing the largest rugby athlete management company in the UK.