Current Wasps boss Dai Young is reportedly Gloucester's top target to replace Bryan Redpath © Getty Images

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Gloucester have set their sights on recruiting both a director of rugby and backs coach ahead of next season with Wasps boss Dai Young and veteran centre Mike Tindall linked with the roles.

The Cherry and Whites have operated without a director of rugby since Dean Ryan left Kingsholm in 2009 and they have also been without a head coach since Bryan Redpath resigned from his post earlier this week. The former Scotland international stepped down following a disappointing run of results that continued in his absence with a 24-19 home defeat to Sale on Saturday that ended their hopes of Heineken Cup qualification.

Speaking before that crushing defeat, board member Ryan Walkinshaw revealed the club's plans to bring in a specialist to oversee all coaching matters and recruit a backs coach to harness a talent-heavy squad.

"We will definitely be looking for both a rugby director and a backs coach," he told The Citizen. "Once the season is over I will sit down with Ken Nottage and David McKnight and form a panel to assess all the CVs, draw up a shortlist and take things from there."

Reports suggest that Young, desperately trying to secure the Premiership status of his relegation-threatened side, is seen as the ideal candidate to bring out the best of an under-achieving Gloucester side and an approach is likely whether his current charges avoid the drop or not.

Tindall is out of contract at Kingsholm at the end of the season and has long been linked with an exit after Redpath chose not to offer the 33-year-old a new contract with Leicester centre Billy Twelvetrees set to join the club. But a final decision on his future will be left to the new coach with a possible player-coach role one of the options available. "I would love to stay and play at Gloucester for two more years, but if that's not to be then I'll play elsewhere," Tindall said earlier this week.

Whoever takes charge of the side, Walkinshaw is particularly keen to see the side retain their attacking blueprint with the likes of Jonny May, Charlie Sharples and Freddie Burns in their arsenal. And with the likes of England No.8 Ben Morgan and All Blacks scrum-half Jimmy Cowan also heading to Kingsholm this summer, there is an abundance of potential.

"We have a special playing style, in fact I would consider it unique," said Walkinshaw. "So we will definitely recruit personnel to reflect, uphold and further that. "We have an excellent group of players and we have built a very strong squad for next season. It is a very exciting mixture and we are very proud of that work. What it is important to stress is that we will look to recruit new personnel to maintain continuity in our gameplan.

"The group of players we have and staff we have around that have been brought together with a specific blueprint in mind. And there's no doubt that we need to continue in the same vein. So when the time comes for recruitment, then all of that will most certainly be taken into account. We are very proud of that style of play and the ethos that comes with it, we feel it is totally befitting of our club and its status."