REGENERATION off the pitch can act as a spur to promotion-chasing Gloucestershire's on-field renaissance, according to director of cricket John Bracewell.
Six painful years in the making, evidence of the club's off-field progress can be seen in bricks and mortar at Nevil Road with the new £6million pavilion building starting to take shape.
And long-serving boss Bracewell believes that his side can mirror that progress, insisting that promotion to Division One of the LV= County Championship is firmly in sight this term.
Targeting seven championship wins this summer, Bracewell pointed to the new development as a very visual representation of the club's desire to progress.
"The optimism grew and the pessimism faded at the moment that the first digger wandered into the place last year," Bracewell said.
"It has been a long six years for Tom Richardson and his team getting the new development in place, getting through the red tape and crossing the line.
"We've taken a hell of a lot of steps backward to go forward and at times we felt as we got a bit distant from our goals and for the players it was more distant than anyone.
"They guys who take to the field don't understand the politics – they don't need to understand the politics – but all they can see is money being taken out of their budget.
"But now they understand what it is all about and the whole club staff has enjoyed this winter – even though it has been bitterly cold – because they can see progress being made."
With a legion of established stars departing the club in recent summers, former New Zealand coach Bracewell has been forced to operate with a squad of inexperienced players.
Last season saw the County slump to the bottom of the second division as games that looked destined for draws were turned into defeats as Alex Gidman's side chased crucial victories.
While Bracewell admitted that everyone at the club had been hurt by that finish, he also believes that it has helped to battle harden some of the young pros.
Backing those players to have learned the lessons from last season, the former New Zealand coach believes the inexperienced tag can be shed from those experiences.
And with experienced Aussies Michael Klinger and Dan Christian added to the squad as captain and Twenty20 specialist respectively, Bracewell is optimistic of challenging on all three fronts.
"Statistically we were pretty hurt at being bottom of the table last year as we did feel that we played better cricket than the results showed," Bracewell said.
"I think we played entertaining cricket, which I though was a good initiative from Alex who took on challenges that were going to be extremely hard, but took them on anyway.
"We know that we need seven wins in order to get promotion and we've been a side that, on average, has got five wins each season.
"We took on a bit of a risk-reward thing last season as there were a lot of sides in the middle of the pack and we tried to be positive to win promotion.
"We took that risk and ended up bottom at the end of it and that is what can happen with inexperienced players.
"But we're not going to hide behind that inexperience any more.
"We have experienced the hurt of losing and now we have to use that and focus on having a ball-by-ball winning attitude that will allow you to win games.
"With a young group you can't just focus on one target as you are trying to improve everyone's skills on a daily basis.
"But we should be in the hunt for promotion come the end of the season.
"Our 40 over game has been reasonably consistent for a number of years and our t20 form took a turn for the better last year.
"And with Michael and Dan added to the squad this year that will certainly aid that."
