Rod Petrie

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Rod Petrie (left) introduces John Collins as Hibs manager at a press conference on October 31, 2006

Rod Petrie is the chairman and former chief executive of Scottish football club Hibernian.

By the summer of 2003, Hibs were in severe financial trouble. This was mainly due to overspending while Alex McLeish was manager and the withdrawal of the lucrative deal between Sky Sports and the Scottish Premier League. The club was £17M in debt^[1] and were technically insolvent in September 2003 according to a report by the major accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers^[2]. The club was being supported by loans and guarantees made by majority shareholder Sir Tom Farmer^[1]^[3].

Petrie, the managing director and the only significant minority shareholder in Hibs, explored options as to how the club could continue to trade. Two options were identified: one was for the club to stay at Easter Road while increasing revenue; the second was to sell the Easter Road site to clear the club's debt and to share a proposed new ground in Midlothian^[4] with Edinburgh rivals Hearts, who also had significant financial problems.

Hibs opened discussions with Hearts about the possibility of moving to Straiton^[5], but this was met with a sceptical reaction by the Hibs support^[6]. In response to this reaction, Hibs appointed former player Pat Stanton to act as an "honest broker" in the public consultation process that followed^[7].

The result of the process was that Hibs decided to stay at Easter Road^[8]^[9]. The club launched a campaign called Stand Up And Be Counted to attract lapsed fans in an effort to increase revenues^[10]. Hibs also sold some excess land behind the east side of Easter Road to a housing developer (Westpoint Homes) to reduce the club's debt to a more manageable level^[11].

Petrie was appointed Hibs chairman in December 2004 after the resignation of Ken Lewandowski^[12]. This meant that Petrie was simultaneously chairman and chief executive, which is against the practice recommended by the Cadbury Report^[13].

Since the appointment of Tony Mowbray as Hibs manager in May 2004, Hibs have made a net profit in every season^[14]. Hibs have also received significant transfer income for Garry O'Connor (£1.6M)^[15], Kevin Thomson (£2M)^[16], Scott Brown (£4.4M)^[17], Ivan Sproule (£0.5M)^[18], Steven Whittaker (£2M)^[19] and David Murphy (£1.5M)^[20] during this same period. Hibs have also lost the services of Scottish internationalists Ian Murray (who has since been re-signed by Hibs), Gary Caldwell and Derek Riordan for little or no fee due to the failure of Hibs to agree new contracts with these players.

Petrie has come in for criticism, particularly after the resignation of John Collins^[21], that he has not used enough of these revenues on increased spending on players. Petrie has argued that the club has increased the budget for player wages four times^[14] and invested in a new training ground in East Lothian^[22], while also reducing the net debt to under £3M^[23].

Petrie's relationship with the Scottish media has also been a point of controversy, as some journalists have accused Petrie of being uncooperative^[24].

Petrie resigned from his position as chief executive in April 2008 and was replaced by Scott Lindsay^[25], but has retained his position as chairman. Petrie stated that Lindsay would take over the "day-to-day running of the club", while Petrie would retain control of "executive duties", including the negotiation of player contracts and setting the player budget^[26].