Peter Rossborough on a rescue mission at Coventry RFC

Jan 18 2010 Rugby Union by Brian Dick

‘Yes, I am chairman – for my sins – and you can write that,’ laughs Peter Rossborough, only half in jest.

By that measure the urbane former England international must be a very, very bad man indeed because even in the good times the stewardship of troubled Coventry has been more poison than chalice.

And make no mistake, in the last decade-and-a-half good times have been few and far between.

Steve Williams and Mike Umaga had the Blue and Whites playing some lovely stuff in the first half of 2005, there was a National Trophy quarter-final in 2006 and a barely memorable fourth-placed finish in 2002.

But otherwise it’s been a debilitating cocktail of inconsistency on the pitch and unrest off it. Few would wish Rossborough’s lot on their worst enemy.

Yet the 61-year-old could not stand by and watch the club that launched him to the top of the rugby tree dissolve in an acidic solution of debt and recrimination.

So when Andrew Green tried to liquidate the club at the end of last year, Rossborough stepped up his involvement to front a rescue bid.

He scored an early success by changing the legal status to administration, rather than complete dissolution.

And exactly a week ago, with a new investor on board, Rossborough led Coventry out of administration and as a result they are off life support but not yet out of intensive care.

Negotiations with the Rugby Football Union continued yesterday, Coventry will have to lodge a sizeable bond as security against future mishap, and there is the small matter of the relegation play-offs.

Set in the context of Rossborough’s era, when Coventry boasted internationals by the bushel and won the John Player Cup in consecutive years, it is all so hard to fathom. Set in the context of Green’s disastrous ownership, it is a natural conclusion to years of mismanagement.

“It is very difficult to find audit trails that make any sense or go back into the past,” Rossborough says. “There are some fairly substantial sums of money that have come into the club and not been used to the best advantage.

“As with any organisation it is a matter of living within your means. It is not about being parsimonious, that is not the same as being prudent.

“Prudence is not my middle name but we are going to be sensible and act with integrity.”

To that end philanthropist and businessman John Bowles has put in £150,000.