CASTLEFORD TIGERS’ new owner Martin Jepson has explained why Craig Lingard was let go as he gives the latest on recruitment at The Jungle.
Lingard was dismissed last month following a difficult first season in charge of the Tigers, but the former Batley Bulldogs boss was thought of highly amongst the Castleford faithful who took the news with surprise.
However, Jepson believes that, in the longer term, the decision will pay off.
“It’s never easy and it wasn’t a reflection on Craig. He did a very good job in difficult circumstances and I won’t take anything away from him,” Jepson told The COYFCast podcast.
“There’s nothing personal in it but I’m a big believer that if you’re going to make changes you have to do them early. The longer you take to make a decision, the less likely you are to do it.
“I think a change was appropriate for the club int hat moment of time. For me, we needed to move in another direction this year.
“It was a tough call but I believe in the long term it will be the right one for the club. I felt the timing was awkward because of how long it was taking to type up the legal work but you don’t want to be chopping and changing halfway through pre-season.”
At present, new head coach Danny McGuire and director of rugby Danny Wilson have been rubbing their heads together in terms of recruitment decisions.
But Jepson admits that there is not much out there – particularly in the forward pack where the Tigers need to strengthen.
“I’d hope so but it depends ultimately on who is available. The remainder of our recruitment will be contained up front with middles and back-row,” Jepson continued on The COYFCast podcast.
“We know that middles have been hard to come by so Kieran Hudson is back with us but he is at the younger end and is someone we hope we can keep fit. He is a good prospect.
“But we know we need another one or two starting middles and back-rowers before the season starts.
“The backline looks good but I was keen to move on players that aren’t going to feature. We could quite easily have kept some of the players that we let go but I felt it was better to pay those players to actually move on somewhere else.
“It was the best for their careers that they would get game time elsewhere. I don’t want players hanging around the squad that won’t feature.
“I want to bring that proper competition into the squad. I don’t think we will make the salary cap this year but we will be spending more.”
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