Young, 26, is an interesting recruit. A good left-hand bat and brisk right-arm seam bowler, he pushed himself to the one-day and Test fringes in Australia with eye-catching returns for Tasmania.
Philip August, Gloucestershire's cricket secretary, went out to watch Young play at Hobart and Sydney recently before confirming his signature - which also meant that Fleetwood, the Lancashire club, had to find another professional.
The appointment of Mark Alleyne as the new captain was one of the few pieces of good news during a close season when the departures included Andrew Symonds, the most successful batsman, and Courtney Walsh, easily the best bowler.
Symonds, committed to Australia during the winter, became ineligible for English cricket and his absence is a major loss. Nobody has been signed to replace him.
The team managed a mere six championship hundreds last summer, and only Durham did worse than that. 'Glos' need Matthew Windows, for example, to blossom, but any of the others would do.
Walsh's absence, on duty with the West Indies against India and Sri Lanka in the Caribbean, threw open the captaincy issue again, apart from leaving Mike Smith exposed as the only penetrative bowler.
Jack Russell, who as captain pulled the county up to sixth place in the championship two years ago, declined the opportunity to repeat that considerable achievement.
Russell showed interest in taking over again only reluctantly, and then on a vastly different basis - demanding authority to negotiate salaries and hire and fire players, with total control over all coaching, professional and non-professional. It seemed very much an offer the club could refuse.
As a Test wicketkeeper and Gloucestershire's most consistent batsman, Russell is a major figure at the club. But his captaincy attitude has been disappointing, on the face of it, at least.
Alleyne, 28, a leading all-rounder on the circuit, was vice-captain under Russell during the team's 1995 championship season and should carry the respect of his colleagues easily enough this summer. He is the fourth different captain in four years.
Gloucestershire's slide down the table to 13th last year could be ascribed to flimsy batting, not helped by the bad start made by Monte Lynch who found himself in discipline trouble in April and did not regain a regular place until mid-July.
Robert Cunliffe, on the brink of a breakthrough as a batsman of stature, and Richard Davis, left-arm spin, were distracted by serious domestic problems and Windows played only half the season, graduating from Durham University.
Those problems of availability should have disappeared this year and Alleyne, a product of Haringey Cricket College, is likely to insist on a tight ship. He will be hoping that Smith, as an England A seam bowler, can shoulder the burden of taking most of the wickets, with Young as a willing learner.
It would be a bonus if David Lawrence, at the age of 33, could make an effective return to the first-class scene after five years out since breaking a kneecap.
The former England bowler is hoping to have a serious try-out this week during the county's pre-season practice in Zimbabwe.
The county have contracted Chris Read, an England Under-19 wicketkeeper, who resumes at Bath University next September, and James Averis, a rugby Blue at Oxford with, no doubt, a cricket Blue to follow.
Off the field the county have a new chief executive, Colin Sexstone, and ground improvements continue at Nevil Road.