Do we need to worry about Gloucester?

[Which Tyler]

7 years after their last appearance in the top 4
Last year, they stumbled upon actually playing decent rugby with skilled halfbacks who knew where and how to play; and we all thought they'd build and improve from there.

Instead they seem to be racked with financial difficulties (though a year ago they were fighting Bristol and Exeter for the "we're paying the least outside of Newcastle" label). It's an open secret that MSQ has been looking to sell the club, and this year they've actively asked fans to invest in the club in some way, shape, or form.
Opposed to this is, of course, the signings of Morgan and Lake from Ospreys for next season

Rumours that they've lost a few players due to simply screwing up contract negotiations - lowballing the offer and pissing the player off, and then being surprised when that player finds someone willing to pay market rate - which Glos were also willing to pay, if only they'd known that the player ('s agent) also knew the player's value.

They lost Anscombe and Carreras (their invention), Wade and Harris (top scorer and defensive leader) from their starting backs last year; along with Vivas, Ackerman, Tuisue, Clarke and Mercer from last year's squad, and have already lost Williams for next year.

Brought Mitchell in from the Red Roses to teach their coaches how to do coaching.

Gloucester look nailed on to take Newcastle's place at the bottom of the table once that RedBull money starts bearing fruit; with no threat of relegation.
The denizens of the shed are unhappy with how things are going, with plenty (saying that they) won't renew their season tickets; and calls for Skivington's head gathering steam (having never died off, even with last season's dawn).

From last year's free scoring side, this year, only Newcastle and Quins (with a game in hand) have scored fewer this year; whilst their scores against is more-or-less double that of Exeter and Bath - right down there with Newcastle.

[Captainhaircut]

They have a decent squad I think and Lake and Morgan will really add to that.

Their summer business was good in parts- Joseph, Redshaw, Loader and Trenholm all decent signings.

Flip side of that is signing Ross Byrne to a 3 year deal. That is likely one of the worst signings in this history of the sport. Not only is he a terrible attacker and woeful defender, he’s completely at odds with the style of game they are trying to play. Just ridiculous business.

At least they only gave Laulala a one year deal.

Robson will be a solid replacement for Williams so they are probably a couple of props, a lock and a 10 away from a very competitive 23. Squad depth an issue but it is for everyone bar Bath….

[Oakboy]

I'd argue that they started to go downhill fast when they signed Mercer.

[fivepointer]

They've been very disappointing.

Think the personnel is there to be a lot better. There are depth issues in a few positions and they havent been helped by injuries but they have enough good players to be higher up the table.

Byrne's acquisition really does look questionable. Maybe he'll come good. Right now he doesnt look to be offering this team much at all.

[FKAS]

Coaching Team

George Skivington - Director of Rugby
Jack Pattinson - Assistant Coach
James Lightfoot-Brown - Attack Coach
Cillian Reardon - Head of Performance
Tim Taylor - Skills & Backs Transition Coach
T. Rhys Thomas - Forwards Transition Coach
Dominic Waldouck - Rugby Strategy & Defence Coach
Trevor Woodman - Scrum & Assistant Forwards Coach

There's not a lot of coaching experience in that set up. Would make a lot of sense to have Skivington as head coach and then bring in an experienced DoR to come in steady the ship. Set up some foundations and help the coaches refind their rhythm from last season.

The summer's recruitment was actually pretty good bar the glaring mess that was flyhalf. Anscombe at 34 and with niggling injury issues you can understand not being seen as a sure thing. Harris was largely out the side anyway with Atkinson and Llewellyn the preferred centre combination, add in Joseph and that's a good trio of centres. Losing Carreras though that was criminal and doubly so considering they seemingly learnt nothing from throwing money at Owen Williams and Adam Hastings previously.

Get some players back from injury and add some experience to the coaching ticket and I still think that's a better side then what they've shown so far.