‘Relegation should be scrapped’ – Gloucester CEO

Colin Newboult
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Gloucester chief executive Lance Bradley insists that no team should go down from the Premiership this season due to the unique circumstances surrounding it.

The Cherry and Whites currently reside at the bottom of the table having lost five of their six games so far in 2020/21.

They endured a major overhaul after the league was shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the departure of head coach Johan Ackermann, director of rugby David Humphreys and a number of key players.

George Skivington was hired as the new boss, while a number of other English coaches were brought in to try and help alter their fortunes, but they have struggled since the restart.

Ring-fencing

With England’s top-tier so competitive, relegation is a distinct possibility for one of the country’s biggest clubs, but ring-fencing the Premiership has been suggested.

Financial uncertainty currently engulfs the league due to the impact of Covid while games are also being decided off the pitch when an outbreak of the virus forces a cancellation.

With those factors in mind, Bradley has backed calls for the Premiership to end relegation for the time being.

“Nobody could have foreseen quite how many games were going to be cancelled this season,” he told City A.M.

“The chance of a team, whoever it might be, getting relegated because they happen to stay fit and healthy – that just doesn’t feel right.

“The consequences of getting relegated and having another huge hit to your income straight after that would be catastrophic.

“And it would be catastrophic for pretty much any club in the league. That isn’t really what it’s about.

“We’re looking at how to develop the game and broaden its reach. Having one of the Premiership clubs go out of business is completely counter-intuitive to that.”

Should the Premiership be ring-fenced then a 13-team league could be created by bringing Saracens up from the Championship.

Some have also suggested allowing the ambitious Ealing Trailfinders – who defeated Sarries last weekend – into England’s top-tier, but Bradley is unsure as to whether they would be competitive.

“If there’s another club that’s capable of competing in the Premiership, then it would be great to have them up here,” he said.

“What won’t work is to have a team come up that’s completely uncompetitive. A couple of seasons ago London Welsh lost every single game. Who did that benefit?

“People talk about Ealing and Cornish Pirates and one or two other teams. I’ve been to watch Championship games, and there’s some great rugby there, but it’s a world away from Premiership rugby.

“People talk about Exeter, forgetting that their overnight success has taken them 25 years. It’s not an easy thing to do, and that’s the exception rather than the rule.”

Despite the Cherry and Whites’ current issues and the CEO’s concerns around the Premiership’s structure, Bradley is confident that Gloucester will avoid finishing bottom.

“We’re not going to get relegated,” he added. “We’re not going to finish bottom of the table. And I don’t mean that to sound complacent, because we’re not.

“But the way that we are playing and the improvements that we have made, the players that we’ve got coming back from injury, we’re not contemplating relegation.

“Nobody wants to be bottom of the league, but we’re actually very happy with what’s happening on the playing side.”

 

Gloucester