It's still all quiet on the Kingsholm front
By Cherry Picker
June 6 2009
We can categorically deny that the photograph accompanying this article is a scene from Kingsholm where, we are assured, decisions really are being made on the future of Gloucester on and off the pitch. However, there are similarities, because it appears nobody at Glaws is saying anything, seeing anything or hearing anything.
So just in case anybody at the club is wondering what we are talking about, let us remind them.
It is now more than two weeks since Glaws promised a statement in a fortnight on the result of owner Tom Walkinshaw's end-of-season review, the review that was to decide what should be done in the wake of a frustrating and disappointing season.
The general opinion of the fans, and we are told it was the same inside the club, was that the season was a flop and that something needed to be done.
Perhaps we were wrong when we assumed that once it was admitted that something DID need to be done, it would be done with some urgency, or at least action would be taken to allow it to be done quickly.
That has not happened - the season may still be weeks away, but it is getting ever closer and work is needed NOW to ensure what we have just gone through isn't suffered again, either by the fans or by the people inside the club.
Other clubs are putting together their squads, replacing players who have left and strengthening in positions they feel need to be strengthened.
At Glaws, that is not happening to the extent most people feel is necessary.
Some players have been signed, but a lot more are leaving and whoever is going to be coach next season, whether it is Dean Ryan or somebody else, needs to be given the go-ahead to get to work on putting a squad together.
Yet all we get from the club, apart from an announcement that the publication of TW's review has been delayed, is silence.
Nobody is saying anything, and it appears that nobody is doing much either.
Last season ended in disappointment, but that could turn into a major crisis unless action is taken quickly, and the result of that could be that in a few weeks we'll be starting a new season in the same way as we have just ended one.
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Nieto had basically already been replaced by Somerville. The lightweight and poor Lamb has been replaced by the superior Spencer and Robinson. Balshaw was rubbished when we first signed him and for much of his time at Kingsholm. Voyce is a good replacement despite the same rubbish being thrown at him. Cooper... is anyone missing him? The rest were just fringe/academy players who have already been replaced from within by the likes of Sharples, Trinder, Lewis. In fact it is the same as happens practically every year.