British Show Jumping searching for new performance manager

BRITISH Show Jumping is searching for a new performance manager after the GB team's relegation following a disappointing year last season.

TIME TO IMPROVE: Ben Maher is a member of the under-performing GB show jumping squad who are in search of a new performance manager (Getty Images)

While Derek Ricketts, team manager since 2002, will remain in his role, the position of performance manager is being advertised following a review of the season where Britain finished sixth at the European Championships in Windsor and eighth in the Nations Cup.

After a sub-standard performance in 2009, world governing body, the International Equestrian Federation opted to relegate Great Britain to the second tier of their league system.

That decision is being appealed by the British Equestrian Federation with a decision imminent.

While British Show Jumping search for a new performance manager, Beijing Olympian Tim Stockdale will assume the role of chef d'equipe on an interim basis when a four-strong British team competes in a Nations Cup competition in Abu Dhabi in February.

Ben Maher, cousins Robert and Ellen Whitaker and Guy Williams, who won the Mechelen Grand Prix last month, make up the quartet heading to the United Arab Emirates.