Gloucester City boss Mike Cook says “we want to go as far as we can in every competition” despite chairman departure

Gloucester City boss Mike Cook claims his side “want to go as far as we can in every competition” ahead of FA Trophy clash against Braintree Town.

The Tigers have recently come under some board changes, as chairman Patrick Chambers and his wife Nicky Chambers stepped down from their roles at the club, meaning the old chairman Alex Petheram comes back into the mix.

“We had a bit of a chat Thursday night at training with the players, personally I am sad to see Patrick and Nicky go I thought they were decent people, they have tried their best but for whatever reason they have moved on and chosen to resign, we have just got to pick our heads up and move on. 

“We have got the new/old chairman coming in which is exciting, I had a chat with Alex the other night, which was quite a positive one, we both have a passion for the club and I think we both recognise that working together for the better of the club with the situation it is in, it can only be positive for the club, as long as I get resources for the situation then I am sure it will be okay.”

The Gloucester manager also spoke on the outgoing of Harry Williams and the reasons behind why Williams left, with the forward making a permanent move to Salisbury during the week.

“We had to get Harry out before we could get one in, so he has gone to Salisbury on a permanent. Now we have a lad coming in called Liam Cross coming in at the moment which will initially be a 3-month loan agreement, with an option to sign him on if he does well.

“I am delighted to get him on board, I am a little bit sad to lose Harry but we just must get on with it.”

Liam Cross is a 20-year-old attacking midfielder who moved to Brackley Town from Northampton in the summer, however he has only made one appearance, so may be moving to Gloucester to try and get some first team game time under his belt.

City are up against Braintree Town in the FA Trophy at the TigerTurf this Saturday, in what will be the second of three games being played within the space of a week, which may lead to some squad rotation being made by Cook and his coaching staff.

“We have watched them [Braintree] a couple of times on video this week, they look a very strong team, very well drilled as such, I think they are very good going forward, they have got three quick players which leaves them with lots of pace up front, they get it out wide and get balls into the box and look a threat.

“There will be tactical reasons why we move it around a bit, we have got a couple of lads that are carrying injuries that just cannot play two games on the trot playing on astro-turf.”

Cook also talked on new loan signing Ben Beresford, who is currently City’s starting striker, with Danny Wright out with injury.

“Yeah, he [Beresford] is great, I had a telling off from him in the first week after I said that he was 20 in an interview, and he reminded me that he is only 18! He is a young Wrighty I think, he is very similar in stature and very similar in how he plays.

“He has held it up well and got his one goal, we will look to see how that loan will work out over the next 10 days whether Birmingham will loan him back to us.”