BATLEY BULLDOGS are ready to sparkle in the new-look expanded Championship next year, when James Ford will be the man at the helm.

That’s after a £90,000 upgrade of the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium floodlighting system, which dates back to the early 1990s.

The work, including new wiring and modern LED bulbs (six on each of eight towers), was necessary to meet RFL requirements.

But with Batley also using their ground for training, it will be of benefit to Ford as the ex-York and Featherstone coach gets down to business in pre-season.

Helping fund and complete the work was a real all-round club effort.

Back in February, long-serving chairman Kevin Nicholas and former player turned commercial manager Danny Maun staged a sponsored walk of 30 miles across the Pennines to the Bulldogs’ game at Oldham.

And in April, then-suspended secondrow Dane Manning and his friend Mark Flynn completed a sponsored cycle ride to the match at London Broncos, more than 200 miles away.

Support was also provided by club backers, including lighting and electrical specialists Status International.

That company is run by Peter McVeigh, who played for Batley as well as Hull FC and Leeds and later served as a director.

“It’s been a lengthy project, but we’ve got there,” said Nicholas, who has been involved at the club for more than 25 years.

“It was important to do it, not just to meet the stadium standards but because we train at the ground.

“The LED bulbs will be brighter than the olds ones and should prove more economical in the long run.”

Ford, 42, who has been out of coaching since parting company with Featherstone in February, replaces interim team chief John Kear, who took the final match of his second spell at the Bulldogs helm away to York yesterday (Sunday, September 14).

Kear, who arrived after Mark Moxon stepped down in June, was central to Ford’s appointment.