CASTLEFORD TIGERS have endured a difficult season in Super League in 2023.
With three different head coaches having taken the reins at some parts of the year, the Tigers have struggled to build any momentum and currently sit second bottom in the Super League table.
Earlier in on the year, the Tigers announced that there was the potential of a takeover by interested parties in a statement on the club’s website.
Since then, it has gone quiet, but managing director Mark Grattan has sought to clarify what is happening at The Jungle in a candid interview.
“We started off and broke cover and said we had a couple of people that wanted to buy the club. Bizarrely another couple of of people have come forward from that whilst the initial two have dropped by the wayside. We don’t know much about one of them, the other one we know a little bit about but I don’t think it will amount to much,” Grattan told The COYFcast podcast.
“It’s difficult, you’ve got to be honest with people. When you say to someone ‘do you want to buy this club?’ you’re not buying this club and automatically going to be at the top. They want to be challenging for trophies and walking out at Wembley, so it’s difficult because you have to be honest.
“We have scared a couple of people off with our honesty but we have always said we would walk away tomorrow when the right people come in.
“We have one in the pipeline that might amount to something, we have a few individuals that potentially want to come onboard and put money into the club and join the board of directors.”
Grattan also admitted that the club is looking at a fan ownership model.
“It’s something we looked at a while back, Salford did it in a different manner, a hybrid fan ownership, get that investment from the fans and they can be involved in the decision-making process.
“We want a different looking board going into next season and have some investment in the bank that helps us get to the next level. We have no news yet, everything does move slowly.
“So we are looking at a fan ownership model as well as investors coming in or someone coming in fully and taking it over.”
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