CECIL Duckworth will lead from the front this season as he aims to spearhead Worcester's promotion challenge.

The Sixways chairman is to have a more hands-on role at the rugby club as Worcester battle for the National One title and promotion to the Premiership.

Duckworth has taken a back seat in recent years while chief executives Geoff Cooke and Chris Laidlaw took care of the business side.

However, with the club looking to make savings, Duckworth is looking to play a bigger part off the field while the players do it on the pitch.

"I feel I ought to be in control a bit more," he said. "I'll be more hands on this season in the day-to-day running of the club."

Ironically, Duckworth had contemplated turning the club into a part-time outfit following their failure to win promotion last season. The multi-millionaire spent weeks agonising whether to back another promotion campaign, especially with the thorny issue of relegation from the Premiership still up in the air.

However, after last month's decision by the RFU working party to grant promotion to the winners of National One for this campaign, Duckworth was persuaded to give it another shot.

"We spent about 48 hours discussing the possibility of going part time," he added.

"At that point, no decision had been made over promotion and relegation and it's fair to say I was disheartened by it all. I felt as if politics off the field were out-manoeuvring me and we were just up against it."

After talking with the squad, though, Duckworth was convinced that this year would indeed offer Worcester the best chance of promotion since their elevation to this level.

"I was very impressed with the squad's commitment to the club and their enthusiasm to actually finish the job," said the chairman.

"Many of them have made sacrifices in order to stay at Worcester and win promotion. They know if they can win promotion, the club will go from strength to strength.

"Now we are in a strong position. We've been able to keep most of the squad together from last season and added some real quality with the new signings. I'm very optimistic."