Essendon interim chief executive officer Ray Gunston has outlined his key priorities for the club over the next few months.

Gunston commenced his role on Monday and said he is aware there is plenty to be done during his time with the club.

“Even though I have come in as the interim CEO I am not going to be warming the seat,” Gunston told essendonfc.com.au.

“The first priority is to act on the recommendations and findings in the Swikowski report.”

“I am still obviously working through it but I have had the opportunity to go through it and I will be doing more on that, working with the board to implement the appropriate recommendations out of it.”

“I also need to deal with the ASADA and the AFL investigations and the outcomes of those and also a much more pleasing aspect, will be to oversee the move to the High Performance Centre later in the year.”

Despite what Gunston has labelled ‘a challenging time’ for the club he is confident of the direction it is heading in.

“My role and approach is to build on the strengths of the club, the very many strengths that are being hidden a bit by the current events.”

“I am really encouraged with what I have walked into.”

“It is important that I make sure everything continues to run in a very capable fashion and maintain what is a really strong financial position for the club going forward,”

Gunston, a board member in 2007, has confirmed he is interested in taking on the role on a more permanent basis after being given the interim role until at least the end of the season.

“I certainly would, I would like to think that is what is ahead of me and I look forward to the opportunity.”

“It is amazing to see the growth in the football department, in the administration and the club more generally.”

“It is a much bigger business than it was then (in 2007) but I enjoyed that time and am looking forward to it now.”