Gloucester
Fans forum rebuilds some broken Glaws bridges
By Cherry Picker
June 18 2009
The fans forum held by Gloucester this week has gone a long way towards rebuilding many bridges, and most of those who attended the Kingsholm session were impressed by the apparent honesty of the club representatives. Relations between the club and the fans hit an all-time low at the end of next season when the team’s poor finish was made worse by coach Dean Ryan’s view on the fans.
But new coach Bryan Redpath and owner Tom Walkinshaw did well, and the response from the fans who were there suggests that their efforts to repair the damage done in the spring were appreciated.
So many points were raised during the session that it’s difficult to decide which were the most interesting.
For starters, how about the question that asked whether lessons learned by the signings of big-name players like Chris Paterson and Olly Barkley, who both only lasted a season, had been learned. Is the club going to stop the big signings?
The answer from Redpath was a straight “yes”, but of course that answer could have been influenced not only by lessons learned on the pitch, but also by the club’s current financial situation. You can’t make big signings if you don’t have big money.
Walkinshaw also made it clear that the sort of humiliation suffered by fans who witnessed the EDF Cup Final hammering by Cardiff last season will not be repeated.
He said part of the reason for that and other poor performances was that the club had failed to define its key coaching positions after Ryan was appointed head coach.
Walkinshaw put the pressure on the new coach and the players by stating that in his view, the current squad “is capable of winning the league.”
The general feeling coming back to many fans was that Redpath could be the man to put the smile back on the faces of Gloucester players, something which was missing for much of the last couple of seasons for whatever reason. We know it’s a professional game, but the dour approach we’ve seen recently wins nothing.
Over to you Bryan.
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18/06/2009 11:16
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Quote:That is none of your business!Two Sheds
Honesty is a rare commodity in professional sport, though I guess there must be SOME things he doesn't mention. Like how much did they pay DR to go?
