Walkinshaw now Gloucester Chairman

Ryan Walkinshaw

David McKnight, Gloucester Rugby’s non executive Chairman is stepping down after 18 months in the role with Ryan Walkinshaw assuming the role of Executive Chairman.

McKnight became non Executive Chairman at Kingsholm in January 2011 when the Gloucester Rugby board was revamped following the sad passing of Tom Walkinshaw.

Over the past 18 months, he has skillfully led the Gloucester Rugby board and also represented the club at external meetings.

However, he now feels that the time is right to hand over the reins although he will remain as a non executive board member.

“I’m delighted that Ryan is now in a position where he can take over as Executive Chairman.

“My role was only ever a caretaker one when Tom sadly passed to try and help Ryan acquire the knowledge base required to lead this area, Gloucester Rugby, of Tom’s business empire.

“My remit was to help run the company within a defined corporate structure but the club is in great shape now, and Ryan is in a great position to take the club forward on a day to day basis which is what is required.

“Ryan’s an exceptionally bright young man and obviously had to deal with the trauma of his father passing away before starting to try and understand the various facets of the business empire.

“We’ve had challenges at the club in the past but Ryan has been instrumental in the decisions that we’ve made in the past 18 months, to help put the club in such a strong position and the decision was backed unanimously at our last board meeting.

“His transformation over the last 18 months has been remarkable and I think he will be an exceptional Chairman for the club.

“I’ve been asked to stay on as a non executive director and would be delighted to do so, to support the club wherever I can and to act as a sounding board for Ryan going forward.”

As Executive Chairman, Walkinshaw will now commit more time to the day to day running of the club and it’s a change in role he’s been working towards for some time as he explained today:

“It’s been discussed over the past few months and, along with Ken Nottage announcing his departure to us, we thought it was time to start preparing to move forward.

“The last 18 months have been an extremely steep learning curve but extremely fulfilling at the same time. It’s been hard work but I’m enjoying it.

“We’ve had some change here at the club in the past few months but I genuinely think we’ve a really exciting future ahead of us.

“Having Nigel Davies on board, for example, is a real coup for us and the stand out candidate throughout our recruitment process. I’m really excited to see how he takes the club forward as he has some great ideas and great ambitions.”

It was announced last week that Managing Director Ken Nottage would be moving on at the end of July after 13 years at the club and Walkinshaw paid tribute to the role that Nottage played at the club.

“I’ve learned a huge amount from Ken and we’d love to keep him longer. His advice to me has been invaluable and I couldn’t have done it without him.

“I owe him a huge amount and I really have to thank him because I know he put his own career ambitions on hold in order to stay at Gloucester and help me settle in to my role here.

“I’d also like to thank David McKnight because he’s been a huge help to the club over the past 18 months. He’s steered us through several important issues and represented us superbly externally.”