CASTLEFORD TIGERS owner Martin Jepson has shed some light on the sacking of Danny McGuire after the former Leeds Rhinos hero was given his marching orders early last week.
It was a decision that took some by surprise given Jepson’s recent backing of McGuire, but now attention turns to who Castleford will look towards to pull the club out of a hole.
“These things are never easy,” Jepson told Sky Sports. “That’s no sleight on the people involved or Danny.
“He’s a long-standing star in the history of the game but we felt that we’re in a reset period. We’re already in a recruitment drive for next year and we’ve plans for what we want to do next year.
“We felt a change of direction was needed, and we’re looking ahead to next year. We start our planning for next year now and part of that is looking at our coaching setup.
“I don’t regret what we did. He brought a new professionalism to the club but at the same time you have to make hard decisions and look at how things are moving in this moment in time.”
In terms of who and where the Tigers will look to, Jepson insists there is no timeframe – but that the decision has to be right.
“There’s no fixed time limit on it,” Jepson continued.
“We need the person in charge here for the start of pre-season and to have bought into the squad we have for next year.
“There’s no need to rush into it over the next week or two. We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of applications we’ve had without going out and touting for them, both from this country and Australia.
“We’ve a long list of people who have put their hands up so I’d like to think we are doing something right to have attracted that number of people because I’m not sure we’d have got those names 12 months ago.”