Chelmsford Chieftains have made a change in direction in terms of coaching for the forthcoming season and will be adopting a player/coach and bench coach system.

Erskine Douglas, head coach with the club since Christmas 1998, will therefore not be retained by Chieftains.

The club expressed their thanks to Douglas for his work and dedication over the past season and a half, including guiding the team to a historic treble winning season last year and wish him every success in the new ventures he is undertaking.

The club will be making further announcements about the new positions shortly.

Chieftains have announced that the major soft drinks company Pepsico International is to continue to sponsor the club again for the forthcoming season.

The deal will enable Chieftains to build on last season's achievements and assemble a squad capable of again challenging for honours.

A major change this year however will be a relaunch of branding, with Chieftains bearing the colours and brand name of Pepsi itself instead of 7UP.

The relaunch will mean new colours and new strip which is currently being designed.

In addition to the deal with Chieftains, Pepsico have said that it is to invest significantly in junior development in Chelmsford and will work with Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre in the appointment of a full time junior coach to coach at all levels from under 10s to under 19s.

This is a major step forward in ice hockey in Chelmsford and one which will benefit Chieftains in the future by bringing through a much larger pool of good young talent.

As was the case last year all the junior clubs will wear the same playing strip as the Chieftains.

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