Western Daily Press

Gloucester target new coach by July

Lockdown’s given us more time to make appointmen­t, says Kingsholm chief executive

- ELLIS LANE wdsport@b-nm.co.uk

GLOUCESTER Rugby expect to be able to confirm the identity of their new head coach in early July following the departure of Johan Ackermann.

It was confirmed last month that Ackermann would leave the club to join Japanese side NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.

Chief Executive of the Cherry and Whites, Lance Bradley, issued a wide-ranging update to fans confirming plans for the new head coach.

He said: “The fact that we’re unable to train yet means that we have more time before we need to appoint a new head coach.

“We’ll be talking to our shortlist over the coming weeks, and plan to make an announceme­nt in early July.”

It is expected that training will also begin from July for the club.

Mr Bradley added: “We’re expecting notificati­on of when we can return to training in the first half of June. Once we have that notificati­on we expect to be able to confirm when training can restart, and in what format.

“Our current thoughts are that we will be training from July, but this is not confirmed yet.”

On the club’s finances in the midst of the coronaviru­s pandemic, Mr Bradley said: “There are one or two clubs with extremely rich owners who may be less concerned about the financial challenges. Gloucester Rugby, however, is in a better financial situation than many PRL clubs.

“Having said that, this shutdown has cost the club a significan­t amount of money, and we’re going to be heavily reliant on our fans’ and business partners’ support to ensure that we’re in the best possible position to be fully competitiv­e going forward.”

Mr Bradley added: “Although all the players and coaches are on furlough, we have been staying in touch on a personal level to make sure that everyone is okay. They have also been staying in touch with each other through Zoom calls etc. A similar level of contact has been in place for our commercial staff. There is also a weekly Zoom call which everyone, across the whole club, is invited to join where we keep everyone informed of key informatio­n and developmen­ts at the club and in the wider rugby environmen­t.”

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