THERE have been a lot of changes at Chippenham on and off the pitch following their relegation from National League Three South.

When the club’s fate was all but secured towards the end of the last campaign, the club already started making provisions for life back in South West One East.

The club reduced the coaching staff to one, Andy Kyriacou, but he has since left in the summer to take up a forwards coach role at Sale Sharks.

That has left director of rugby John Brown taking on the role of head coach and he will be supported by Dale Burn, who arrives back at the club next week after a previous stint at Allington Field.

Now Brown is keen to build some solid foundations at the club and ensure that they are in a better position the next time they make a bid for promotion.

“Last season was really tough,” he said.

“What it did do for the club was highlight the differential between National League Three and South West One.

“Realistically, were we ready to go up? Probably not. Did we deserve to stay up? No we didn’t.

“The ambition for the club is a realisation that we will go up when we are ready to, so there is no immediate target to bounce straight back up.

“Clearly, we would like to go up as soon as possible, however, what is really important is that we stick to a number of key drivers.

“One is that we retain our community club status, we will not remunerate players, which is tough given the environment in the National League, because bar two teams, everybody else was being paid.

“We are confident that we have the youngsters coming through, we have got some good coaching in place and the facility is brilliant.

“What we are trying to create here is sustainability. Chippenham, historically, has always been a yo-yo club and that doesn’t do the club or players any good.

“What we need to do is sustain a level we are capable of playing at by still retaining our core key values.”

Chippenham start their campaign on the road to Windsor this weekend and despite dropping down from the league above, Brown is not underestimating the challenge facing them this term.

“Windsor is always a tough place to go,” he added.

“For them, they are playing at home, it’s their first game and they will probably have a relatively decent crowd there.

“They tend to produce quite an abrasive type of team and we will meet that head on.

“This year, this league is going to be very competitive and you look at the sides that are in there now, there are going to be a good eight or nine teams pushing for the top places.”