Rene Gilmartin will be part of new manager Kieran McKenna’s Blues staff as goalkeeper-coach, while the incoming boss says another coach from outside the club is expected to join his backroom team next week, while further appointments could be made later on down the line.

Gilmartin was brought to the club to assist interim manager John McGreal having worked with him at Colchester and in a brief spell at Swindon in the summer having previously been at Bristol City as the U23s coach during CEO Mark Ashton’s time with the Robins.

The 34-year-old has also been working as the Republic of Ireland’s U21s goalkeeper-coach.

“Rene Gilmartin has just come into the club so that’s an appointment I’m really happy with as well,” McKenna told the club site. “I spoke to Rene yesterday and I’m sure we’ll have a good relationship going forward.

“There’s also one other staff member I’m hoping to bring in, which will hopefully be sorted over the next day or two, which can be a good help to me.

“Other than that, Mark was very clear that we wanted to take our time, make the right appointments. There will very possibly be space for another addition to the coaching staff a little bit further down the line but I feel at the moment we’re going to have what we need to get off and running.

“I want to assess the squad, get a good feel for the building and everything and see exactly what areas I’m going to need the most assistance with.

“Hopefully one more to come in soon to work alongside myself, [assistant manager] Martyn [Pert] and Rene and then we’ll keep reviewing it going forward and I’ll make sure we’ve got a really good staff that can work across all areas of the club.”

Regarding Pert, 44, who has followed McKenna from Manchester United, he added: “He brings a lot. Martyn is an experienced manager or experience coach and assistant as well, even at a relatively young age. Has worked in the Championship, League One and the Premier League as a coach. He’s also worked a lot in the MLS.

“He’s someone I only got to know really well over the last three years or so. Someone I really trust first of all as a person. A fantastic person, very good with staff, very good with players, had a good connection with everyone at United.

“He knows how I work, so that’s really useful for me, he’ll be able to help me get things across on the training pitch in a quick way.

“I’m really happy to have him here, a really good person, a good coach, a loyal guy and also has good experience in terms of getting teams promoted and bringing a team to the Premier League, which he did with Watford. I’m more than happy to have him here.”

Photos: Matchday Images

htb added 18:29 - Dec 20 Good interview. I wish him all the best. A big gamble by the club but I pray we finally have some luck and this appointment is the one that after 20+ plus years gets us heading back in the right direction.
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Linkboy13 added 19:55 - Dec 20 All managerial appointments are a risk. It will boil down to his judgement of a player. He will probably have to make four or five new signings before the start of next season. If they come off all will be Rosy if not fans will have to be patient but i can't see that happening if it does it will be the first time.
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dirtydingusmagee added 20:02 - Dec 20 looking good .
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Europablue added 10:33 - Dec 21 He has to be given time. The main positive point I took is that he's not married to one formation like PC was. Every time we choose a new manager we try and get one that wasn't like the previous ones. I just hope that after kissing all these frogs, we have found our prince charming!
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Murphys_Law added 11:21 - Dec 21 Exciting appointment, I'd quite like to see an ‘older' head as the next coaching addition to give a little balance to the decision making team. However clearly this needs to very much his choice. Time must be given, I'm looking forward to seeing how he does.
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bringmeaKuqi added 12:22 - Dec 21 Everything he says fills me with so much more confidence than the previous manager when he joined. Very optimistic for our future under Kieran. But gosh does he look miserable.
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Monkey_Blue added 16:16 - Dec 21 It's clear the club were not impressed with Cook's no experience “mates” club with backroom staff. When it's small margins between success, mediocrity and failure…. Just hiring people who you like a beer with is from a bygone era…. The era where Peter Reid was worth hiring.
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