Former Ipswich YM boss Clive Bell on taking over as head coach at Diss Rugby Club

Newly-appointed head coach Clive Bell wants to help restore Diss Rugby Club to ‘its former glory’ during his time in charge.

The former Ipswich & YM boss has taken over the reins at Mackenders following the departure of Nick Greenhall, who was relieved of his duties on New Year’s Eve.

Bell arrives with his new club sitting third from bottom in the Counties 1 Eastern Counties table, having won three of their 12 games so far this season.

Diss resume their campaign after the Christmas break with a trip to ninth-placed Cantabrigian tomorrow (2pm), and Bell is targeting a victory in his first game to start to rebuild the confidence in the squad.

“When I was at Ipswich, Diss were always that club that were a couple of leagues above and were a very good outfit,” he said. “The Diss in the situation its in currently is not the Diss I used to know.

“There’s a lot of potential in the club and I think it deserves to be at least at the top of this league or even in the league above.

“I think it’s got a great opportunity to return to its former glory.

“I suppose really it’s just about rebuilding confidence within the club. Speaking to a few of the guys it seems like they’ve had a big knock of confidence.

“I think it’s about them believing in themselves again and getting back to where they were.”

Greenhall’s departure, along with the rest of his coaching staff, brings an end to his three-year spell at the helm at Mackenders, having taken over from former head coach Dave Smith in 2019.

A club statement read: ‘The club executive committee have taken the decision to release Nick Greenhall from his head coach role.

“We would like to thank Nick for his work on behalf of the club and we wish him well for the future.

“We are pleased to announce that we have appointed Clive Bell, formerly of Ipswich and Ipswich YM rugby clubs, as the new head coach.

“We believe that Clive has the attributes to build sides for the years ahead and that making the change at this midpoint in the season will give the club the best opportunity to finish the season with the development under way.

“Clive will build his own coaching team and so we would like to thank Spencer Williams, Andy Price and Stu Hudson for the support they have given to the first XV.

“Clive has stated how players are supported and managed will be a big part of his role. He will start with no preconceptions and wants to restore Diss RFC to its former standing.”