THEY may not have invested financially in the Dragons but chairman David Buttress believes his three new board members will help boost the coffers at Rodney Parade.

On Thursday the Dragons announced that David Reynolds, Ian Jeffery and Steve Phillips have joined Buttress on the board, with the chairman revealing that more individuals will be added in the “medium term”.

They are charged with bringing more revenue into the now Welsh Rugby Union-owned Rodney Parade region, who have long lagged behind the Scarlets, Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys for spending power, let alone overseas clubs.

Buttress became a minority stakeholder in the Dragons when he put in a six-figure sum this summer and while his three fellow board members have not followed suit, he believes their knowledge will help grow the pot.

“They are all investing time, and that’s easily forgotten but important to say,” said Buttress.

“Some of them bring some very important expertise which will give us a competitive advantage in the long term as a club.

“In terms of financially, no they haven’t invested, but I would say the Welsh Rugby Union representation of course has invested into the entity.”

The new board met earlier this month and Buttress says their primary focus was giving head coach Bernard Jackman more funds to improve the on-field fortunes.

“We do have ambitious plans for this region, we think it has a lot of untapped potential and it is incumbent on us as a board to unlock that potential. Ultimately that is how we will be measured over coming years,” he said.

“We need to start thinking about how do we long-term generate more revenues in order to reinvest them in the playing side.

“We are very aligned as a board on that objective and this is about strengthening the commercial side of the business in order to reinvest into the playing side to create a successful team on the pitch.

“It’s fair to say that the board has been as bold as we can be about our budget for next year but we’ve got to live in the real world as well.

“We’ve got to be sustainable for the long term. There is no magic wand I can wave to create money so we have got to work hard to do that.

“The objective around that as a board is that we’ve done as much as we can for next season to give Bernard the best possible chance to be competitive on the pitch, so I am pleased where we have got to.

“In terms of the medium and long term, we will look to increase that even more? Yes we will, but we will have to earn that as a board and a management team by unlocking future revenue potential that I think definitely exists.”

There is a strong WRU presence on the Dragons board in Phillips and Jeffery but the governing body have previously stressed there will be no favouritism to the east.

“The reality is that for us to be as competitive on the pitch as we can, as a board we will have to do some stuff that is unique to the Dragons and gives us a competitive advantage,” said Buttress.

“As a business person I want to try and see if we can get some revenues flowing into this club that never used to exist, that’s one way we can gain an advantage over competitors whether in Wales or other places.

“From where we are today I would be disappointed if in two or three years we haven’t added a significant amount of money to the playing budget.

“This is not about the board trying to make a profit, it’s about growing the region’s commercial strength in order to reinvest it into the playing side to create a better product on the pitch.”

WHO ARE THE NEW BOARD MEMBERS?

Steve Phillips joined the WRU Group in 2008 from TBI, which was one of the largest regional airport owners in the world, after ten years with the company.

He trained with KPMG and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989.

He played rugby for Amman Valley Comprehensive School, Imperial College London, University of London and Amman United, where he captained the first XV.

Ian Jeffery joined the WRU Board in 2015. He has enjoyed a progressive career in the construction and private development sectors, holding positions on the boards of three national house builders, recently joining Persimmon & Charles Church Homes as Regional Commercial Director.

He started playing rugby at 11 years of age and commenced his senior rugby in Exeter, moving to the Gloucester leagues before joining Usk in 2004 and finally retiring from the game in 2011.

Whilst playing he also served on club committees for 24 years, joining the District A meetings in 2010 as a representative of Usk.

David Reynolds is currently Chief Financial Officer at Brandwatch and a former financial analyst at Jefferies & Company.

He was voted number one ranked stock picker by the Reuters Starmine Awards, in the Non-Food Retail sector in 2017 and in Media in 2016.

Previously he had been head of a new European Technology franchise and led the research effort in Software and IT Services at JP Morgan Chase & Co for eight years.

He studied at Swansea University and has also been a maths teacher and served with the Royal Marines in South America, Western Africa and the Middle East and is a Chartered Accountant.