PENRITH are about to receive a huge boost with Phil Gould to ink a new contract that will keep him at the foot of the mountains until 2020.

While the Panthers are expected to officially sign South Sydney’s Chris Grevsmuhl in the next 48 hours, The Daily Telegraph can also reveal Gould has accepted a new four-year deal.

It’s understood Gould will move from general manager of football to a consultancy role, which will include overseeing player recruitment.

media_camera Phil Gould is set to sign a new deal at Penrith.

Gould arrived in 2011 with his famous five-year plan, and faced the immediate challenge of saving the club from financial ruin.

He also made some unpopular decisions with the playing roster, including the squeezing out of Petero Civonivceva and local favourites Luke Lewis and Michael Jennings.

While Gould has so far fallen short of delivering a premiership, he has pulled together one of the best young playing rosters in both the NRL and Holden Cup, recently unveiled a state-of-the-art $22 million rugby league academy, and appointed new CEO Corey Payne.

There was growing speculation Gould would step away from the Panthers now the club was in good shape.

Not only are they sitting in the top eight — and could have just as easily been in the top four had a few close results gone their way — Penrith could also field up to four NSW Origin players with Trent Merrin and potential debutants Matt Moylan, Bryce Cartwright and Josh Mansour.

Gould admitted before he signed Payne: “I’m currently searching for a really good commercial and strong CEO for the club. It really needs someone with some expertise to monetise this program and help it develop over time.

“When that’s done, the job I came here to do is done. Whether or not I’ve got a role into the future and the club wants to keep me involved, that’s up to them.

“Certainly in the role that I’ve played over the last five years, the aim has been to make that position redundant and we’re very close to getting to that point.”

The arrival of Payne has freed up some time for Gould, whose workload had worn him down physically and mentally.

Panthers officials were in no mood to let Gould get too serious about calling time.

“How can you let Gus go with the football brain he’s got,’’ an insider said last night.

It’s expected an official announcement will be made by the end of the week, or possibly early next week.

The Panthers are $1.22 favourites for Sunday’s home game against the Gold Coast.

As for Grevsmuhl, Panthers officials are hoping the backrower will gain a release from South Sydney and link with the club by tomorrow at the latest. Grevsmuhl had been a long-term target of Gould, who had already convinced him to head west from next year.