James Ross has been doing a passable impersonation of celebrated football manager Pep Guardiola over the past few years.

While the incredibly well-decorated Guardiola has won pots galore at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – and surely will win a trophy or two this season with Manchester City – Ross has been making waves of his own as first team coach of Cheltenham’s successful water polo team.

They’ve won the league or cup – and in one year both – in each of Ross’s five years in charge and in the last two years have won the league before falling at the final hurdle in the cup.

It’s a pretty impressive record in its own right and while Ross’s players haven’t yet started calling him ‘Pep’, there is a rather surprising water polo/football/Guardiola connection.

That’s because one of Guardiola’s most trusted advisers – personal assistant Manuel Estiarte – is considered by many to be the greatest water polo player of all time.

He represented Spain at six Olympic Games between 1980-2000, finishing top scorer in four of them and winning gold at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, and Guardiola has said in the past of his friend: “He is the Maradona of water polo.”

Ross was no mean player himself. He was a Cheltenham first-teamer for more than a decade from 1996 to 2009 and today is coming out of retirement to play for the 2nds in one of their National League Division Three opening round of matches at Watford. They played Rotherham yesterday and Tyldesley today.

The 1st team begin the defence of their Division One crown in a couple of weeks’ time in Sheffield when they will take on Manchester and Polytechnic.

And although there are a few changes for the new campaign, the Cheltenham born and bred Ross is optimistic that it will be business as usual for the go-ahead club.

“Yes, we’ve lost two or three players,” admitted Ross, “but we’ve got some new players as well.

“Captain Mike Thomas and Max Gerasimov have retired and Mark Banwell is taking a year out but Will Middleton is back after missing last season.

“We’ve also got some good juniors coming through like Nick Armitage-Bond and Joe Berry, and Cian Mulcahy, who has come over from Australia, has joined us as well.”

As is to be expected of anyone involved in the sport of water polo, the players have been training hard in readiness for the new season.

Part of that preparation took them to Prague for the EU Nations Clubs Cup, which is a tournament for non-professional clubs.

“That was the perfect warm-up,” said Ross, who runs a construction business.

Although disappointed his side didn’t build on their early success and at least make the final, he added: “We played five matches in three days before being beaten by a Danish team in the semi-final. It was a match we should have won.”

Despite that disappointment, these are certainly exciting times for the club who this season will field a ladies’ team in the National League for the first time.

They will be coached by former first-player Rob Smee and will compete in Division Three, opening their campaign in Sheffield where they will play Sunderland and Liverpool.

“It’s a sign of how healthy the club are at the moment,” said 37-year-old Ross. “We want to try to offer something for everyone.”

Ross is certainly playing his part in ensuring that the club are upwardly mobile.

The one-time 1st team driver – that’s someone who plays on the wing for the uninitiated! – is happy to play anywhere for the 2nds and is also happy to play “whenever selected”.

And there’s already another Ross coming through the junior set-up at Cheltenham.

“My oldest daughter Lily has played a couple of games for the under-12s,” Ross, who is married to Katy, said with pride.

Katy used to be a water polo player herself for Middlesex Marlins and the couple have two other daughters – Megan and Alice – who, although a bit small yet, may one day follow their big sister’s lead and take up the sport.

Dad will certainly hope so because water polo is a major part of his life.