» A title challenge is on the cards - departing Vaughan,
STEPHEN Vaughan reckons Gloucester have built the foundations to win the Premiership during his tenure as chief executive – possibly as early as next season.
Vaughan bids farewell to the Cherry and Whites this week having overseen big changes in almost seven years at the club, from the restructure of the playing department to last year’s rebrand.
Gloucester certainly made strides on the pitch last season as they finished in the Premiership play-offs for the first time in eight years and it is mission accomplished from Vaughan’s point of view as he insists it is the right time to move on.
Vaughan said: “Seven years as a CEO as a top sporting club, it’s about more than two times the life expectancy of a normal chief exec.
“Not that it means anything, Ken Nottage was here for 12 years.
“One of the KPIS I put in initially, when I first came in we had such a huge turnover of staff and players and coaches. I wanted to stop that and this year we’ve had three or four coming in, three or four coming out.
“We’re retained some fantastically talented people like Johan (Ackermann, head coach) and Danny (Cipriani) and Jake Polledri and there are a number more that we’ve done that I can’t talk about at the moment.
“We’ve tried to create a no excuse culture so we reset on that years ago and to a point that’s done.
“You can always say, well you haven’t won the league yet but hopefully we will but do I think the foundations are in place for us to challenge and be a top four team in the future? Absolutely.”
“There was an element of how much could I do to keep myself fresh and interested and
sometimes it’s better for a fresh pair of eyes to come in no matter how people think may things are.
“It was just a very honest conversation I had with Martin (St Quinton, owner and chairman) and we’re in that place where a fresh pair of eyes might be the way forward.
“Sometimes it’s good to go when the crowd are still clapping and sometimes it’s good to go when the crowd are still clapping and go a year earlier rather than a year late.
“I genuinely believe this club has got a lot going for it.
“Certainly off-the-field there are a lot of things moving in the right direction.
“On the field I think it’s more obvious and I’d like to see us at least consolidate a position in the top four next season.”
While Saracens and Exeter have dominated English rugby in recent years, Vaughan believes Gloucester will have a chance of breaking that next season.
“Honestly, I think sport is very cyclical and I think now we should be a top four team minimum now for a number of years,” he said.
“We’re going to have very few players missing for the World Cup and looking at our fixtures we could get off to a very good start looking at who we’re playing and who they’re missing.
“If England go quite far as well, when these players come back from World Cups they’re shattered.
“When Harlequins won the league back in the day it was a World Cup year when they had very few England players missing.
“I’d like to think we could at least consolidate third position but be an outside bet for a top two next season and get a home semifinal and we can beat anyone at home.
“If we get a home semi-final there’s no reason why we can’t win it.”
Gloucester are yet to appoint a new chief executive.
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