Dunbar looking to repay friends, family and supporters after joining Gloucester City
Ethan Dunbar has made the highly anticipated move to Gloucester City and says he is looking to repay the support of his friends, family and City supporters.
In a move that always felt likely to happen following his breakthrough season in Men’s football at Longlevens in the 2021/22 season, the former Bishops Cleeve striker has made the switch to the KMM Energy Stadium for the 2026/27 season after leaving Evesham United.
Speaking to Severn Sport after the news was announced, Dunbar says it has always been an ambition to play for his local side.
“I’m very happy to have signed for Gloucester. As I said in my opening interview with the club’s media it’s always been an ambition of mine to play here and it’s taken a lot of hard work to become reality.
For me this is just the beginning and I’m here to provide and contribute as much as possible to help Gloucester get back to National League football.
To play for a proper club like Gloucester, who average over 1000 fans at home, is naturally thrilling – so to be given the opportunity to play for the football club that myself, my friends and my family support is a great honour and I want to do well for everyone – especially the supporters,” said Dunbar.
The former Slimbridge U18s forward is no stranger to Gloucester City fans having played against them in the FA Cup for Longlevens, the County Cup for Bishops Cleeve and netting twice at the KMM in the Southern League for Evesham United last season and has been a sought after player for the fans for a number of summers.
Having made the jump into step 3 with Evesham last summer, Dunbar feels that season at the Jubilee Stadium has put him in a great position to hit the ground running at Gloucester City.
“First and foremost I’ve got to thank Evesham as a football club in providing me the opportunity to play step 3 football,” said Dunbar.
“Leaving Bishops Cleeve was hard, but Evesham as a whole club made me feel welcome. I’ve got to thank Mike Ford and his staff and of course all the lads for the season I had there.
I felt I adapted to the level smoothly and as the season went on I settled into it really well. I wanted to gain little wins over the course of the season that would add up a lot come the end of it.
I got to my double digits target in goals, alongside 11 assists and to be honest it could have been more! So now to be playing for Gloucester, where with the players already in the squad, I feel I am going to get a lot of opportunities to score even more and as a striker that’s exciting!” Dunbar added.
When the news came out that Dunbar would be leaving Evesham United, a number of clubs were linked to be interested in the striker and rightly so, but Dunbar admits that the deal was done pretty quickly as soon as he spoke to Manager Daf Williams and says once that happened, his mind was made up.
“Even before I announced I was leaving Evesham, there was a number of clubs in contact. Then after the announcement, more clubs came in, but as soon as I got the message from Gloucester and spoke Daf, there was no question on where I would go and I’m delighted to be part of the club,” Dunbar said.
Gloucester City kick off their pre-season campaign on Friday 3 July when they head to fellow Gloucester-based side Tuffley Rovers, with home games against Bristol Manor Farm, Neweport County and Haverfordwest County to follow.
Cover photo taken and copyright Jamie Brain Photography. Visit his Instagram @jamiebrain_photography
