BLOG: All exciting change at the Clan!

Hi Purple Army,

I hope everyone is well and looking forward to the start of the regular season this weekend.

Since my last blog, we’ve seen a considerable amount of change here at the Clan. The main change obviously has been the rebrand from the Braehead Clan to the Glasgow Clan. It’s a change we have been planning for over 12 months and one I feel we need to continue the growth of the club. It will assist us on a number of different areas including awareness in the West of Scotland, awareness in the hockey world, merchandising, player recruitment and sponsorship. While the Braehead name will always be synonymous with the club, it’s an exciting change for the future. We are still the Clan, we are still the same organisation and we are still supported by the superb Purple Army!

Following the bitter disappointment of last season, we took the decision to restructure the club during the summer. I have moved into the role of Chief Operating Officer allowing me to oversee the off ice business and operations of the club, while Pete Russell joined the club as Head Coach & Director of Hockey Operations allowing that role to be responsible for on ice. I am delighted we persuaded Pete to come to the Clan, he is someone I have known for over ten years now and I know he wants to bring success to his native Scotland. Pete has already brought identity back to the club and recruited what looks like a very exciting team. Gerry McLaughlin has moved from his Brand Ambassador & Media role into a Business Development role with the club with the aim of growing the club’s commercial and sponsorship revenues. Andy McLaughlin has unfortunately now left the organisation, I’d personally like to wish him all the best for the future. Andy had been with the club for six years and has been an integral part of the growth over that time. A lot of change, but a positive refresh for everyone associated with the Clan!

Looking back at the Summer Series, we were delighted to welcome four top class organisations in Fischtown Pinguins, Dresden Eislöwen, MAC Budapest and Stavanger Oilers to Glasgow. I want to thank Alfred Prey, Ricardo Schumann, György Bence and Pål Haukali Higson for agreeing and working hard to make their visits possible. All the Summer Series attendances were very positive considering it was pre-season and we had four home games within ten days, thank you for your support. All four visiting teams were very impressed with the city, the Arena, the level of professionalism and the standard of the games. It’s important that we keep challenging the club against top European teams, but more importantly provides the Purple Army with an exciting and diverse start to the season. All four teams commented on the atmosphere at Braehead, it was great to be back in the Arena, it was great to feel the buzz back again – I’m sure everyone is now looking forward to the weekend and an exciting 2018/19 season!

Thanks for your continued support!

Gareth