AXED Castleford Tigers boss Craig Lingard insists that he is ready to return to work as soon as possible following his exit from The Jungle.
Lingard was dismissed by the West Yorkshire club earlier this week following just one season as head coach, with the ex-Batley Bulldogs number one guiding the Tigers to just eight wins from 29 games.
News of Lingard’s exit was met with surprise amongst the rugby league fraternity, but the 46-year-old is keen to return to the sport – whether as a head coach, assistant coach and or even a director of rugby.
“It depends what’s out there. It’s not football so you don’t get a £1m pay-off where you can sit and wait for a long time for your next chance,” Lingard told League Express.
“I’m open to conversations. I’m not ready to take time out of the game and I didn’t leave because I was overworked. I was prepping for a new season.
“I’m ready to work and ready to have conversations whether that’s as a head coach, an assistant coach or even in roles away from coaching behind the scenes.
“You have got to look at the longevity within the game and that’s where you need to progress to eventually.
“I need to go out and work and if nothing comes up rugby wise and it means I have to go out into the real world and get a proper job then so be it.”
One vacancy which has arisen in the past week or so is that at Bradford Bulls, with Eamon O’Carroll departing Odsal for a move to become number two at St Helens.
For Lingard, he is happy to have a conversation, but no contact has been made.
“I’m happy to have conversations. I’ve not had any contact with Bradford and they haven’t contacted me either. There’s been nothing done in that regard.
“Whether any interest progresses in the next week or so, I don’t know. I’ve spent the last 24 hours sitting down with people close to me, discussing what is next moving forward.
“I’m not in a rush to make a decision or jump at the first thing offered to me.”
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