Clan won’t waste any time in hunt for new boss
Chalmers: Talks are underway
Braehead Clan are keen to quickly appoint a successor to head coach John Tripp after he was axed following the side’s failure to make the playoffs.
Clan hockey and operations director Gareth Chalmers confirmed the club are striving to bring in a new face following a season of disappointment on the ice.
Tripp’s tenure ended in despair after back- to- back defeats to Nottingham Panthers and Guildford Flames sealed Clan’s fate – despite needing just the one victory from their last two games to make the play-offs.
The German lasted less than a year in the hotseat, leaving Chalmers to concede that he didn’t expect to be on the hunt for yet another boss in such a short period of time.
He said: “We certainly didn’t expect to be in this position for the second time in 12 months. However, we felt it was important to act swiftly and decisively following the bitterly disappointing season.
“The own e r s h i p and management, like everyone else connected with this club, crave success on the ice so it’s important we acknowledge this season won’t be accepted.
“Last year it took far too long to make an appointment for varying reason’s and our focus is to get the right individual in place as quickly as possible, to allow them to get straight down to recruiting an exciting and competitive team for the 2018/19 season.
“We have a number of targets in mind and are already in discussions with them regarding the role.
“We have also already had a lot of interest in the position from around the hockey world.”
Tripp, who agreed to leave on Monday evening, also admitted that things hadn’t gone the way he would have liked.
He admitted: “It’s been a tough season. I didn’t get the job done that I had planned out and the season didn’t end how we wanted it to.
“I had a feeling it was going to be tight when we lost to Dundee and Coventry at home about a month ago.
“In December, we had some injuries and it took us a while to get back then we finally started to get our form back.
“I always believed that if you gave me any team, I could make them better and I know that I made these guys better but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to meet the expectations.”