WARRIORS managing director Nathan Bombrys took the unusual but understandable step at the weekend of going on YouTube to reassure the team’s supporters that signings were on the way.

Unusual, because MDs tend to stay in the background and just get on with their jobs, leaving it to their coaches to explain recruitment matters. Understandable, because for months now Warriors fans have heard very little good news, as a result becoming steadily more restless.

It feels like an age since we learned that Richie Gray and Enrique Pieretto would be part of the squad next season, and since then there has been no specific word from Scotstoun about new arrivals.

Instead, those two signings have been more than counterbalanced by a host of departures, Jonny Gray, DTH van der Merwe, Callum Gibbins and Ruaridh Jackson being prominent among them. 

Edinburgh Rugby’s signing from the Warriors of Andrew Davidson, finally acknowledged by the capital club yesterday, has done nothing to lower Glasgow fans’ anxiety levels.

Given the admission by SRU chief executive Mark Dodson that a period of retrenchment will inevitably ensue from the coronavirus pandemic, that anxiety is all the more comprehensible.

There have been times in the past when Glasgow have been Edinburgh’s poor relations when it comes to recruitment; you can see why, given the evidence of these past few months, there is a fear that such times are back.

Yet, while there is still some uncertainty about how precisely the two squads will look once play resumes at the end of August, one thing seems certain: by then, there will be something far closer to parity between them. Edinburgh may well have done almost all of their business already, while Glasgow can be expected to make a fair bit of belated noise.

The re-signing of Scotland hooker George Turner was announced by the Warriors on Monday, and there will be another re-signing this week, possibly as early as today.

Some new signings of young Scottish-qualified players are sure to follow, including confirmation of the report in these pages last week that former Scotland Under-20s lock Hamish Bain is joining from Nice.

It is understood that in most if not all of these cases, the deals were done before the season was suspended in late March. Which begs the question: why has it taken so long to announce them?

Part of the answer lies in a reluctance to make too much noise about spending money on new players at a time when there is a general tightening of belts, and that also explains some of the delays in Edinburgh’s announcements.

But the change of head coach has been a factor too, with much of the good news being postponed until Danny Wilson is securely in position after taking over from Dave Rennie.

Rennie, whose three-year term as head coach ended last month, said himself that his successor had been in charge of recruitment for some time. In that respect, it makes perfect sense that Wilson should announce his own signings, and clearly the club want to show the new man in a good light by portraying him as the bearer of positive news.

More than three weeks on from the handover, Wilson has yet to perform any media duties or indeed say anything in public as head coach, but we can expect that self-imposed silence to end shortly.

Having waited long enough to be identified as the Warriors’ figurehead, the new coach could get off to a flyer with the announcement of a big, positive story. And for Glasgow fans, there are few things that could be bigger or more positive than the news that Leone Nakarawa has agreed to extend his second spell with the team.

Negotiations with the Fijian forward may well have some way to go yet, with no guarantee of success. But there are surely sound grounds for optimism: Nakarawa’s current deal runs out at the end of this month, and he appears to have been in no hurry to seek employment elsewhere.

Certainly, the signing of such a talismanic figure would go some way to repairing the Warriors’ fraught relations with their fan base, and if a couple of other new signings were to follow, that would further increase the optimistic mood as the resumption of play loomed ever closer. 

And lest we forget, Edinburgh’s transfer-market activity this summer has not been an unmitigated success either. Yes, Richard Cockerill’s team did seem to be well ahead of their rivals, but they were then struck a blow by the news that Australian stand-off Jono Lance had failed in his visa application so would not be joining after all.

That leaves Jaco van der Walt as the only senior 10 in Cockerill’s squad, with newcomer Nathan Chamberlain as a very promising but untried back-up. In normal times the coach would go straight back into the transfer market to find a replacement for Lance, who was himself brought in to take over from the departing Simon Hickey.

But so far at least, there is no sign of any such move. The money that was there to fund the signing of Lance may no longer be there.

In short, Glasgow’s supporters may well be right to fear that their squad for next season will be smaller and less experienced. But their team will be far from the only one feeling the pinch.