Lyall Gorman has vowed to ensure Cronulla’s chequered past does not dictate the future direction of the NRL club after being announced as the new chief executive.

The former A-League boss and Central Coast Mariners CEO, who also was the architect of Western Sydney Wanderers’ hugely successful formation, has already begun work after his appointment was rubber-stamped on Monday night.

Gorman will oversee the football club and the leagues club in addition to the development work of 650 units on land next to Shark Park that chairman Damian Keogh claims will secure the organisation’s financially viability.

But one of his biggest challenges will be getting the club back on track in the wake of fall out from the drawn out ASADA investigation which resulted in 10 current and former players copping bans.

“I have no doubt this club has the fundamental principles and platform in place to be one of the best football clubs in Australia,” Gorman said.

“The past will never equal our future, we have a very clear vision and strategy as to where we want to grow the club.

“We have a strong playing group and a board that has given management the mandate to charter the future of the club.”

An early task for Gorman will be to find a major sponsor for the Sharks, who have not had a significant front-of-shirt contract since the end of 2012, a task made harder by the ASADA investigation stain.

“The accumulative impact of the ASADA process has been significant,” Keogh said.

“The current board joined the club with the vision of creating a consistently strong NRL club.

“Instead we have been in virtual survival mode and we can move forward.”

Coach Shane Flanagan, who was in the room for the announcement of Gorman’s appointment, stormed out of a media conference on Monday after being questioned about the ASADA scandal.

Flanagan’s new boss stopped of castigating the coach’s actions but vowed to foster better relations with the media.

“There is not a moment in anyone’s lives where they haven’t felt the pressure of the moment,” he said.

“But relations with the media are fundamental to the success of any professional sporting club.

“I’ll be working very hard to build on that and we look forward to working with the media … and realise that you won’t write always what we want you to write.”