It seemed inevitable that there would be change at the top of Munster Rugby after the Roger Randle saga in April.

The only surprise is that it took close to six months for it to happen, with CEO Ian Flanagan confirming on Thursday that he will resign at the end of October.

When an independent report into the governance of Munster Rugby was commissioned in May, it appeared as if Flanagan had bought himself time to weather the storm after what had been a damaging couple of months for the province.

The findings of that report are yet to be made public, although the review, which was conducted by The Governance Company, was expected to be delivered to the province by the end of September.

Upon launching the review, which issued confidential surveys to a wide range of both internal and external stakeholders, independent chair Martin Kelleher said it would be "looking forward in nature", adding that it was "not an investigation, a disciplinary process or a fault-finding exercise, and it does not seek to attribute blame to individuals".

While the review may have been "looking forward", it was hard not to join the dots between it and the farcical Roger Randle saga, which played out just a few weeks earlier.

In April, the province announced that Randle (below) would be taking over as attack coach on a two-year contract, a decision which led to a major fallout.

In 1997, Randle was accused of raping a woman while in Durban, South Africa with his former club Hurricanes.

The New Zealander was initially charged with rape, but the case did not proceed as the complainant dropped the charges. Randle has always denied the allegation against him.

His appointment led to supporter backlash and three high-profile resignations from the province's professional games board, while it was also reported that members of their voluntary Commercial Advisory Group also resigned.

Ultimately, it was agreed by Munster and Randle not to go ahead with the appointment. In July, when Irish Rugby performance director David Humphreys was asked if either Munster or the IRFU paid compensation to Randle, he declined to comment.

Back in May, just over a week after the province announced they would be conducting a review of how they are governed, Flanagan gave an interview to Munster's media partners, the Irish Examiner, in which he said he took full responsibility for the decision to hire Randle.

"As CEO I take full responsibility for the decisions made by the organisation. So the buck stops with me," he said at the time.

If Flanagan (below) accepted "full responsibility" for the situation back in May, one has to wonder why he has waited four months to step down.

There was considerable pressure on him to resign at the time, while the idea of spending money on an independent governance review was met with frustration in some quarters within Munster, given they were already in the process of a redundancy programme.

Peter O'Mahony's withering assessment of their governance appears to have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Speaking this week on his media tour for his autobiography, 'All In', the former Munster and Ireland captain gave a blunt commentary on the way Munster Rugby has been run in recent years.

"I think Munster needs to have a good look at the governance of the building, the governance of the whole organisation, and I think it needs change," he told the Indo Sport podcast.

Two of his former Munster team-mates, Ian Keatley and Johne Murphy, voiced similar beliefs on recent episodes of the RTÉ Rugby podcast, but as a recently retired player and longtime captain, O'Mahony's scathing criticism could not have been ignored.

He never mentioned Flanagan specifically, but by singing the virtues of former chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald (below), the current CEO's name was conspicuous in its absence.

Fitzgerald retired in the summer of 2019 after 20 years running Munster Rugby, before passing away from a long illness less than a year later.

A hugely popular figure, Fitzgerald was CEO of the province during their glory years, winning two Champions Cup titles and three Celtic Leagues, as they grew to become one of the biggest brands in world rugby.

Cork native Flanagan, who was head of football for the Treble Group prior to joining Munster, also spent four years as commercial director for Leicester City Football Club, and took over as Munster CEO in the second half of 2019.

The highlight of his seven years at the head of the province came in May of 2023, when Munster ended their 12-year wait for a trophy with a remarkable URC title win in South Africa, but three years on from that they look far away from repeating it.

In recent seasons there has been a turnover of coaches; Johann van Graan turned down a new contract in 2022 in favour of joining Bath, while Graham Rowntree lasted just over two seasons before departing, despite bringing them to the URC title in 2023, while high-profile senior coaches like Stephen Larkham and Mike Prendergast have also walked away.

At the end of last season, it looked like McMillan was questioning what he had got himself into as head coach, but the New Zealander (below) does appear to be committed to the cause.

While Munster have continued to be a play-off team in the URC and secure Champions Cup qualification, their struggles to secure home knockout games is taking its toll on their financial picture.

Since supporters have been allowed back into the stands after Covid-19 restrictions, Munster have had four home play-off games. One of those, against Exeter Chiefs, was part of a two-legged Round of 16 in 2022, while the following week their "home" game with Toulouse had to be played at Aviva Stadium, due to a clash with an Ed Sheeran concert at Thomond Park.

There are issues at the province which run deeper than the CEO; while O'Mahony spoke so fondly of Fitzgerald, Munster had gone eight years without a trophy by the time he retired, while there had also been a considerable turnover of coaches, an issue which continued under Flanagan.

Further changes could even be on the cards, when the full details of the governance review lands.

The province will appoint an interim CEO this month before the search for a permanent successor begins. Current chief operating officer Philip Quinn briefly filled that role to bridge the gap between Fitzgerald's retirement and Flanagan's arrival in 2019.

Whether or not Flanagan's successor comes from a rugby background or not, there is work to be done in restoring brand Munster.

Although the brand has taken a hit in recent months, they still remain one of the biggest names in the game.

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