It is no longer a two club affair between Bath and Leicester
It is no longer a two club affair between Bath and Leicester."At the moment it is between Northampton and Leicester. "It's probably heresy to say so but I have always admired Leicester," McGeechan said. I might do the odd training session but my club commitments are greater than last year I don't want to compromise what I'm doing here. We've got a lot of things right and we are just beginning to see the benefits."So, can the phantom win the league? "It would be easy to say yes but that would be such a bland statement," he said "You have to get it right every time you play. I'm enjoying every minute of my involvement with Northampton." McGeechan's involvement with Scotland is limited, although he remains in touch with his Lions strategist Jim Telfer "He uses me as he sees fit. If I was an international coach I'd welcome the idea."Does he ever regret giving up the chance of becoming the Scotsman who coached England? "It's gone, I look forward, not back. There would be intensity and pressure but the Lions played Tests back to back.
If you play the internationals back to back the squads would be together and there would be no conflict between clubs and country. "There's not a big gap between the southern hemisphere and the northern. We haven't put a structure into place to make the most of our talent We've had years of ifs and buts. Which is more than British rugby has got.McGeechan's dream season would be a domestic league, a European competition involving 32 clubs and then the Six Nations' championship in the Millennium to be played on successive weekends towards the end of the season. "I'm still a schoolmaster at heart," McGeechan said, "and I get a lot of satisfaction seeing players develop It is a complete structure".
There are nine apprentices and the club has bought a house in the town to accommodate them. We have to get a strong home base."Northampton not only have a youth development programme but an academy, run by Brett Taylor and Martin Bayfield, which combines rugby with education. Clubs keep buying the big players and that's not only an expensive business but a short-term fix. I'm not in favour of teams with seven or eight South Africans or New Zealanders and I don't care whether they've got British passports or not. I'm not just the coach but also a director of the club and Keith has brought me into everything. We have a long-term vision and I want at least two-thirds of the Saints to be home grown. No matter that the Samoan has never been addressed as Patrick in his life.McGeechan - he's also delighted with the progress of Andy Blyth after losing Gregor Townsend to Brive - is wary of buying success rather than cultivating it "I'm in a privileged position.