SALE Sharks will today begin their search for a new chief executive following confirmation that Niels de Vos is to leave Edgeley Park to become the new head of UK Athletics.

However, UK Athletics faced a battle to prise him away from the club.

De Vos was on six months' notice and Sharks finally agreed to release him slightly early, when the current season ends in the middle of May.

The new chief executive will have a big say in any changes which are made before his arrival and will be in close contact with chairman Ed Warner, who will run the sport on a day-to-day basis until he joins.

De Vos has pledged his spare time until then to his new role and has begun the process of relocating his home from Cheshire to Birmingham, where UK Athletics is based.

And de Vos admits he will ultimately be judged by the number of Olympic gold medals won by British athletes.

"I'm sure I will be and I'm sure the organisation will be. That's sport," said the 39-year-old.

De Vos, a former schoolboy 800metres runner with a best time of one minute 57.2 seconds acknowledged he had been a would-be athlete "whose perspiration exceeded their ability".

But he revealed he knows far more about athletics than he did rugby when he joined Sale four years ago after being commercial director for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

"I'd never played the game and frankly had little interest in it.

"What I did have interest in and why I took the job was because I saw a vision that the owner of Sale Sharks had and believed I had a skill to actually make that vision happen.

"He'd been struggling for a year or so to get it off the ground and felt I could be a catalyst to help make it happen. Hopefully that will put me in good stead for a sport I know something about." Tweet