Caledonia Gladiators coach Gareth Murray says the future is bright for the club as they embark on a new adventure in East Kilbride.
And he says there is a lot of positivity surrounding the club after winning the BBL Trophy for the first time in 20 years.
Gladiators have announced a £20m stadium in East Kilbride that could also see the venue host concerts, and the 6000-seater two-stage project is set to be completed by 2026.
Part one of that is a temporary 1800-seater development at Playsport in Stewartfield, which will be ready for August.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” said delighted Murray, who quit playing last summer to focus solely on coaching.
“There’s a lot going on. Making the final was a huge thing for the club, with it being in Glasgow and all the people coming to the game, on the back of the new announcement of the new arena at Playsport, which will give us 1800 seats for the summer coming up.
“It will be ready for the summer, and we plan to have five playing courts with a 6000 arena ready in a couple of years.
“It’s perfect for the sport, for Caledonia Gladiators, but for Scotland as well – it’s for everybody.
“We got through Covid, and now we’re in a position where
we’re looking like a proper club, now, where we’ve got the full pathways, academy coming, a new arena, all this type of stuff.”
Since their historic 73-70 Trophy win over Cheshire Phoenix last month, Gladiators have beaten rivals Manchester Giants 106-97, Bristol Flyers 90-82 and 85-80 against Plymouth City Patriots. Though they lost 88-78 to Newcastle Eagles on Friday, Gladiators beat Surrey Scorchers 102-77 on Sunday, leaving them fourth in the British Basketball League.
It’s looking like their ambitions for the season could be well on track.
Murray said: “I got Coach of the Month in February, we went undefeated in February, which got us to the final in the first place.
“We had dropped down to fifth in the table, because we played he final, but we are heading in the right direction. It feels great, honestly. Manchester Giants were right above us in fourth, and we were trying to catch them, basically.
“We’ve been back and forth all season between the two of us, but the win means we take the head-to-head over them.
“If anything comes down to tied at the end of the season, we jump over them, and that’s important. We set our goals that we want to be a top-four team, we want to win the trophy and get to the play-off final.
“We’ve completed one already and we’ve got two more challenges to go over the next few weeks. But winning the BBL Trophy gives us a massive boost for that.
“Winning is the biggest thing we could have done. It’s amazing.”
Gladiators host Eagles tonight, and leaders London Lions on Sunday, both at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.
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