Gloucester City Kings head coach and founder Jay Marriott has described the club’s promotion to the National Basketball League Division One as “huge” for Gloucestershire.
The Kings made the perfect return to the NBL Division Two this season, going undefeated with an 18-0 record and securing the league title with a game to spare.
After an unconventional relegation to the NBL Conference due to a league restructure two seasons ago, the Kings have now secured back-to-back promotions under the stewardship of Marriott, who traded his role as general manager to return to the sidelines back in 2024.
“It’s just huge,” he admitted, “When I first came here, a lot of people doubted whether you could build anything in Gloucester.
“There’s always been a little bit of a junior presence in Gloucestershire, going way back to the Gloster Jets who were really, really successful, and there’s a number of really nice clubs around us in Cheltenham, Stroud and Gloucester, but people really doubted whether or not we could build a men’s programme.
“We started in the soil basically; I created the brand of the Kings and the vision and saw all of those things before any of these steps of going through the NBL ladder,” he added.
“I set a target for myself four years ago, a five-year plan to get to Division One, and we’ve done it in four years, which is incredible and a testament to people that have been around us.”
The Kings secured the league championship in Marriott’s hometown at the Plymouth Raiders, a franchise that he represented for a number of seasons as both a player and head coach.
But the real celebrations began the following week, as they returned to Gloucester to complete their unbeaten season with a 114-74 win over the Reading Rockets.
“To win the league championship in my hometown with a lot of people that I’ve either worked with before, family, friends and old fans from back in the day was a very special occasion,” the former 10-year pro admitted, “But we didn’t go over-the-top, we didn’t go crazy, we sat there, enjoyed it as a group, and said let’s get home, let’s get to [the game against] Reading.
“It always makes me a little bit nervous when you’re bringing in things like water bottles and champagne before a game, it can feel a bit premature.
“First half, Reading were really at us, and we had to go up a level. But it was a comfortable win in the end, and we were really, really happy to be able to celebrate at home and having those crazy moments that all the players tend to enjoy, like absolutely soaking me wet as a coach, gave them great pleasure.”
Next up for the Kings are the Division Two play-offs, but with promotion secured after an unbeaten regular season, the pressure is off for Marriott’s side, who will be looking to finish such a successful campaign on another high.
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Featured image: Jonathan Martin Photography
