WHENEVER a coach gets the sack, there are always two questions in my mind.

Did he deserve it, and how was the news conveyed to him?

So did Danny McGuire deserve to get the push from Castleford Tigers last week after their home defeat by Huddersfield Giants?

Apparently the Castleford directors decided that losing at home to fellow strugglers Huddersfield was the last straw.

But in that case I wonder whether they saw the game a week earlier when Castleford were desperately unlucky to lose 20-26 at home to Wigan, with a video-refereeing error having contributed to their defeat.

The Wigan game seemed to demonstrate to me that the Tigers were improving under McGuire and, with a bit more luck, they could have come away with the result.

And then there is the question of how the decision was communicated to Danny.

Rather than the Chairman Martin Jepson communicating the decision himself, he delegated this to Chris Chester, according to Chester himself, speaking last week at the weekly media conference after McGuire had parted the club.

I think that was totally unsatisfactory.

In my view McGuire is a man with a huge reputation in Rugby League, mainly as a player but also in the early stages of his coaching career.

He is someone for whom I have a great deal of respect.

If the directors were going to dispense with his services, the least they could do was to call him in to explain their decision to him themselves. Danny deserved no less than that.

So why didn’t they do it? Only they can answer that question.

In the meantime I would like to wish Danny all the very best and I hope we haven’t seen the last of him in the coaching box.

He always wore his heart on his sleeve as the Castleford coach, which reflected his passion for the job.

The sooner we see him back in that role, the better it will be.