Phil Anderton (born 1965 or 1966) is a Scottish business and marketing executive. He was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

in February 2004, after several years of successful marketing within the SRU. He was nicknamed "Firework Phil", because he provided lavish firework displays and entertainment before rugby games at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

. These were criticised by Sir

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lions ...

as "more like a pop concert than a rugby match" after the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...

game in Edinburgh in 2004, but Anderton was unrepentant on both counts. Anderton resigned as CEO in January 2005 after David Mackay (Chairman of the SRU) was forced to resign by the SRU General Committee. From March 2005 to October 2005, he served as the Chief Executive of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

football club Hearts. Anderton's dismissal as chief executive by majority owner

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf, lt, Vladimiras Romanovas; born 15 June 1947)

prompted Hearts chairman, George Foulkes, to resign in protest. After leaving Hearts, Anderton was appointed chairman of the

ATP World Tour Finals The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...

, the largest indoor tennis tournament in the world. Anderton then served as chief executive of the

Al-Jazira Club Al Jazira Club is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League. History Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled to st ...

in Abu Dhabi, but resigned due to personal reasons. In February 2013, he was appointed to the board of the political campaign group Better Together. Anderton holds a degree in Management and International Relations from the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderton, Phil 1960s births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scottish chief executives Heart of Midlothian F.C. non-playing staff