George Skivington: Gloucester have spent ‘wisely’, says club boss

Making Gloucester a sustainable club has been the aim of the owners for a number of years since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the 10 Premiership clubs, Gloucester were the closest to breaking even when the most recent set of accounts was released for 2022-23, although their debt still totalled £541,000 that year.

Big-name players including full-back Santiago Carreras, centre Chris Harris and back-row Ruan Ackermann, who amassed more than 400 club appearances between them, are among those exiting Kingsholm.

However, Gloucester have increased their squad size from 35 to 40 for next season.

New signings blend youth and experience and include Ireland fly-half Ross Byrne, South African back row James Venter and New Zealand prop Nepo Laulala plus full-back Ben Redshaw, scrum-half Mike Austin and centre Will Joseph.

Skivington said it would have cost a “huge amount of money” to keep some of the players who have left and that the club is working towards more strength in depth.

“We lost a couple of lads in key positions this season and we had to really anchor down, push people in and there were some really costly games for us,” he said.

“I think we’ve spent our money smartly over the next couple of years.”