New Scottish Rugby CEO on Franco Smith, earning less than Dodson and becoming 'leading union in the world'

Williamson, 50, fills the post vacated by Mark Dodson last March and inherits a business that has posted losses of £11.3 million and £10.5m in the last two financial years.

Despite a 10-month “leadership gap”, the new boss believes Scottish Rugby is back on track and will reach break-even point by 2026-27.

Dodson’s £887,000 remuneration package was a bone of contention for many rugby supporters and Williamson said he expects his salary to be lower than that of his predecessor.

“I think my salary is commensurate with the role in the sector and my understanding is it's lower than it has been in the past,” he said.

One of the chief executive’s first jobs will be to try to tie down Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith on a new contract. Smith, who led Warriors to the United Rugby Championship title, has been linked with Leicester Tigers, the club Glasgow will play in the next round of the Champions Cup. His current deal expires at the end of next season.

“Obviously with Franco, he's contracted until 2026, I do know that,” said Williamson who added that he intended to speak to the South African within the next couple of weeks. “He's doing a fantastic job and long may that continue.”

Williamson is also scheduled to meet with national coach Gregor Townsend but would not be drawn on what he expects from the Six Nations which begins on Saturday for Scotland with a home game against Italy.

“I couldn't assess it other than the fact that I'm a fan,” said Williamson. “I have season tickets and I suppose I'm full of optimism.

“I'm not aware of any targets that have been set but I do think that we've got a fantastic squad.”

He added that he had spoken with David Nucifora, Scottish Rugby’s new high performance advisor, but more about the development of young players and their pathway into the national squads.

“We haven't talked at all about the senior men's team and honestly right at this moment, nine days in, all I know is that I'm going to arrive on Saturday full of massive enthusiasm, huge hope and a great deal of pride,” said Williamson.

“Despite injuries, Gregor's got a fantastic squad and I'm very hopeful that we'll have a good tournament.”

Williamson arrives at Murrayfield from the private equity-owned education provider Inspiring Learning where he was chief executive. He also had spells as CEO of House of Fraser and the Goodwood Estate. The latter role saw him involved in the staging of large-scale motor racing and horse racing events and he said it was sport’s ability to “bind people together” that drew him to Scottish Rugby.

“My interest in the role was because not only do I believe in the power of sport, but I believe that Scotland has all of the elements that it could be the leading union in the world. It doesn't necessarily mean that they'll win the World Cup. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to win a Grand Slam, but it does mean that we should be excellent in everything that we do.”

The aims, he said, were to be, “highly competitive. We're outstanding on the field. We'll be outstanding across men's and women's in the pathway programmes. That we are fantastic in the way that we deliver our experiences in the stadium. That we're very bright-minded in the way that we integrate with world rugby. That is I think what Scotland can be and I think that we are some way along that journey in some areas and we're quite a long way off it in others.”

He agrees with Scottish Rugby chairman John McGuigan that the key to financial health is to grow the revenue which reached record levels of £73.9m in 2023-24 but needs to get up to £100m. Easier said than done, of course, but Williamson is adamant that Murrayfield remains an under-utilised asset which can deliver a lot more, be it through more concerts or other events.

Acts as diverse as Oasis (three nights), Robbie Williams and Billy Joel are already lined up for the summer, following on from last year’s successful gigs by Taylor Swift.

“Clearly last summer there were a range of concerts here and they are very, very viable from an economic perspective,” said Williamson. “So we like that a lot and you can imagine how one might use this space but we've also got to be respectful of the fact that we need to play rugby on it.

“So there are windows that you can use and there are certain types of income streams that are available for those windows, particularly in the concert space that we'll be after.

“But we've got to make sure that this is a facility that promoters recognise as being the best option for them. It's the biggest stadium in Scotland, we need to be the home choice.”

Scottish Rugby went through a tough period of redundancies and a recruitment freeze as a result of the recent big losses but Williamson said that process was complete and the goal now was making sure Murrayfield was used to drive up income.

McGuigan spoke last year about building a hotel on the Murrayfield campus and said there was also £10m of capital expenditure earmarked for improving the stadium and its environs over the next two years.

Williamson praised McGuigan for the “fantastic job” he had done during the 10 months in which he was effectively acting chief executive as well as chairman. He also spoke of his pride at taking up the role.

“It's a very special moment for me,” said Williamson who is English but is married to a Scot. “My family are predominantly Scottish, although one of my daughters hasn't decided whether she's English or Scottish yet! So I'm sort of living a dream for a lot of members of my family, not least me.

“I've always been a huge believer in sport and the power of sport, the power of sport and community and I'm sure you've heard that before. I think rugby in particular has always caught my imagination as a sport that can bind families, communities and people together more generally.

“And whilst there's a load of challenges, I think that I'm someone really naturally suited to getting in amongst quite complex, important agendas. And I think I have the patience but also the determination to get through some of that stuff.”

He stonewalled questions on whether he thought the next Six Nations broadcast deal should see the championship move to pay TV.