The news cannot have come as a surprise after Steve replaced Yates on Saturday at 
Although he only left the club in the summer of 2003, there will be very few familiar faces in the dressing room, the only player remaining from his time as player and captain is Graham Branch.
Steve Cotterill has moved quickly to make the appointment and revealed that this was one of the reasons he brought Steve back to the club in October. He revealed, “Steve will be doing exactly the same as Mark did with the first team and also taking care of the younger players in the reserve team as well and this was very much in my thoughts when I brought Steve back to the club.
“I anticipated this would happen. After having a long chat with Mark Yates in the summer I knew he wanted to become a manager and it was just a matter of time when the right opportunity came along.
“To bring Steve in early on to do some scouting for us and getting to know the players and take a few warm ups was preparation for the job that he has now stepped into. We are delighted to have him working closely with us in a day to day basis.”
It seems
We’d like to wish him well in his new role as first team coach.