ON the wall of the room where the Dragons hold team meetings and eat their dinner is a motivational thought for the day.

It's often the sort of thing that a photocopier salesman from Daventry would nod sagely to, like "pressure squeezes more effort out of winners and more excuses out of the rest".

In time perhaps the old Millwall motto of "no one likes us, we don't care" will find its way onto the walls in Ystrad Mynach.

Some are finding the potential of the Dragons – and potential is all that it is at the moment after a familiar season of results – slightly threatening.

They prefer the old Dragons: bumbling, shambolic, lacking ambition and of no threat whatsoever.

The Scarlets, Cardiff Blues and Ospreys may say that they want a third proper rival and that five strong entities, including the national team, is the best thing for Welsh rugby.

But in truth they'd like a club that they can patronise, perhaps even plunder, and then take eight to ten points off every season.

They want a Dragons that can only attract their cast-offs, they want a Dragons that doesn't stand a chance of enticing exiles from the Aviva Premiership.

Maybe that's harsh… I'm sure they'd like the Rodney Parade region to be better, but just not too much better.

However, the Dragons intend to ruffle a few feathers and after spending years lambasting the past regime for not showing anywhere near enough ambition I'm not going to have a crack at new head coach Bernard Jackman and chairman David Buttress for aiming high.

And don't underestimate the power of that vision in terms of attracting new, like-minded people.

I've only had dealings with Jackman for five months but he is an engaging talker and comes across as both passionate and bloody-minded.

A glance at his rugby CV, or read of his book 'Blue Blood' shows that he is a man who relishes a challenge and will fling himself into it. He did it academically and in his playing career, while his time coaching in Grenoble shows that he isn't one for the comfort zone even if a largely successful stint ended on a rather sour note.

That drive and passion can only be attractive to prospective recruits, be they a player like Rhodri Williams who wants to reignite their Wales career or an individual like Ross Moriarty who has a wealth of options (one of which is turning his back on Test rugby and taking up a bumper offer in England or France, it's a short career after all).

I haven't had as many dealings with Buttress but he is the antithesis of what was before; he is a motivated 40-year-old man who has made his millions in tech. One can imagine that he also carries plenty of clout when talking business with prospective backers.

The duo are leading this new Welsh Rugby Union-owned era and big strides have already been made, there is a different feeling to the whole organisation.

After year upon year of disappointment, despair and sometimes anger it's tempting to not care about how change happens just as long as it occurs.

Yet the manner of that change is vital for the Dragons and vital for Welsh rugby.

The WRU ownership happened because the previous board failed in their hunt for fresh investment due to the site of Rodney Parade not being on the table.

Since the keys to the historic ground were handed over to the governing body there have been many eyes watching developments with interest, and not just in Cardiff, Swansea and Llanelli.

Throughout the process there have been two key words that have been repeated about the Dragons.

One is familiar: sustainable. It's something that former chief executive and number-cruncher Chris Brown used frequently after being brought in to sort out the finances.

Sustainable has usually meant keeping costs low, spending very little on the squad and support staff, because attracting investment has proved difficult.

When WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips unveiled Buttress as chairman he said: "We have to back ourselves to make this sustainable. Splashing the cash on marquee players is not going to be what we do."

The second is transparency, something that Buttress was keen to stress that same afternoon in an interview in the Bisley Stand.

That was music to my ears – being open is vitally important in order for any improvements made in the east to get the deserved credit.

So far the Dragons have increased their off-field staff with several key appointments while a big push is being made to improve the playing roster for 2018/19.

Hopefully Moriarty will put pen to paper (although I understand that's unlikely to be this week) to become the biggest signing of a busy summer.

At odds with Phillips' statement, the back row forward would certainly be a marquee player and would certainly need a lot of cash to be splashed.

Is it any wonder that eyebrows are being raised at the Arms Park, Liberty Stadium and Parc y Scarlets?

So far things have been a little opaque but the Dragons are no longer an ordinary club and they need to be clear about their budget.

They need to tell us about the boost to sponsorship, or if they have become a more efficient business, or even if Buttress is dipping into his pocket a la Martyn Hazell, Tony Brown, Peter Thomas and the Scarlets directors.

As I said, some won't give a monkey's about gripes from the west – they will cite past 'bail outs' or a glut of dual contracts – but it's important that concerns are addressed as they risk belittling the good work being done at Rodney Parade.

With transparency that honest graft will get the credit it deserves. A lack of transparency will only play into the hands of the conspiracy theorists.

At the moment any credit for improvements made will not go to the ones driving it in Newport, it will just be put down to the efforts of those at Principality Stadium.

That's a risk of Union ownership, success can always be attributed to favouritism or gerrymandering.

The WRU have undoubtedly given the Dragons a leg-up but it would be nice if they were to become less influential and let the Rodney Parade region start to be loathed for the right reasons.

I never make a secret of my Tiger persuasion and I can assure you that it's painful not being the team that everyone loves to hate.

When Johnson, Back, Rowntree, Cockerill, Garforth, Healey and Stimpson were in their pomp everybody wanted to stick it to Leicester. When they won it was because they:

A – cheated

B – were boring

C – were dirty

D – all of the above

Such accusations make victories even sweeter and when they dry up, as they have in recent times, it means that nobody sees your club as the threat they once were. Saracens now have that mantle (they spend too much, they're dull, they're nothing more than a stifling defence…).

The Dragons want to be hated rather than pitied but it's important that they are transparent on their way to becoming a team that others grudgingly respect.