Will Spells Out Bright Future
27 July 2013
New Gloucestershire chief executive Will Brown has been talking about his vision for the club on and off the field.
Will, 37, who succeeds Tom Richardson in the job at the beginning of September, is determined to head an era of playing success, while also making the club as customer-friendly as any in the country.
Asked where he wanted Gloucestershire to be in five years time, he revealed firm ambitions to build on recent developments at the County Ground.
Will told this website:: “I would like to think we will have kept the core of the current team together, with our best young players staying at Gloucestershire.
“I’d like to see bigger crowds and great cricket being played on the pitch. I also want the players and back-room staff to come together as one team.
“I want regular international cricket staged at the County Ground and to see Gloucestershire in the First Division of the County Championship and successful in all three formats of the game.
“We have to aim high and encourage players to want to come here so they can develop their Test Match skills.
“You don’t have to talk to John Bracewell for long to know that we have some very talented cricketers here already, with more coming up through the schoolboy and youth ranks.
“We don’t want to be losing these players to other clubs. We have to persuade them that the environment and facilities are right here for them to develop themselves as international players.”
When it comes to the business side of the club, Will is equally clear in his aims. He talks about creating a matchday experience that will attract more families.
“I was lucky enough to go to the Olympics last year and the whole London 2012 experience was fantastic,” he said.
“From the moment you got off the tube there was someone sitting in an umpire’s chair with a loudhailer enthusiastically working to make sure you got to where you wanted to go.
“That’s the sort of attitude we need to foster throughout our club, making sure that even the part-time stewards are geared towards what we are trying to achieve.
“Whether they are serving teas and coffees or working on the gate, I want our employees to feel pride in Gloucestershire cricket. They are the face of the club and often the first people our customers meet on entering the ground.
“I have already received tremendous feedback from the staff and get a real feeling of togetherness, which is great.
“It’s all about giving our supporters a real day out. We talk about being a family club and getting kids on board, which means offering a fantastic matchday experience.
“I want to look at offering different experiences for the different competitions. Surrey, for example, do a great job in T20 by providing a big area for barbeques, with a D.J. playing music and it is much more informal than the normal sit-down meal.
“We may not have the room to do that at the County Ground, but we need to be thinking about opportunities like it.
“Things have to be done carefully and with consultation over things like noise levels, but there are many exciting initiatives to consider.”
Will was brought up at Bath – the territory of Gloucestershire’s arch-rivals Somerset – and admits that, but for one player, he might easily have followed the Cidermen.
“I’m not going to pretend there wasn’t a dilemma when I was about seven,” he said. “I used to watch Somerset play at the Festival there each year.
“They had players like Viv Richards and Ian Botham, but there was something about Jack Russell that I really admired and that led to me taking a greater interest in Gloucestershire.
“It was the way Jack batted, always so gritty and difficult to dislodge, that attracted me as much as his wicketkeeping. He aggravated bowlers when they thought they were through to the tail.
“It should have been the glamorous Somerset players who won me over. Instead, I will always remember Jack as my first cricketing idol. My best friend is a Somerset fan, but for me it had to be Gloucestershire.
“Now I am a season ticket holder with Bath Rugby and I am looking forward to watching a lot of cricket at the County Ground, so I couldn’t be happier. I regard working in sport as a privilege."
