Castleford Tigers chief lifts lid on Danny McGuire exit as insight offered into new coach search

Castleford Tigers’ Director of Rugby turned caretaker boss Chris Chester made his first media appearance since the club sacked Danny McGuire, looking ahead to Sunday’s Super League clash against Salford Red Devils.

On the week…

I got called into a board meeting on Monday. We’ve got quite a few new board members at the club now and there are some ambitious plans that have been put forward off the field.

There was a decision made in the board room that they felt we had gone backwards as a club.

In terms of the points and the results, we’re in a worse position than we were 12 months ago. I think we were sat on 11 points (last year) after 17 games, this year we’re sat on eight.

The board decided they needed a fresh approach and they needed to bring somebody else in to lead us into a new era in 2026.

It was a very difficult day for everybody. I had to deliver the news to Danny straight after the board meeting, and he was obviously very disappointed, as you’d expect.

On letting McGuire know he had been sacked…

It wasn’t a phone call, I had to go and meet Danny face-to-face.

I’ve been in that position where it’s been done on a call and I’ve had it where it’s been done face-to-face. I just thought the right thing to do to chat to Danny face-to-face on it.

It didn’t go down well and Danny was obviously very disappointed with the decision, which I understand.

We’ve got a new board here, there are some new board members that have come in and wanted to see change.

It’s always a difficult situation and I’ve got to support the board in every way I possibly can.

On his input in the decision…

There were no disagreements whatsoever. I’ve supported Danny from day one of walking through the door.

I’m not part of the board and it was a decision that was made by the board of directors. They want to go in a different direction, and me being the Director of Rugby, I accept that.

In terms of fallouts or anything like that, there definitely wasn’t one. It’s been a real crap week to be honest and I’m just mindful there’s a young coach there that’s lost his job.

As the players and the staff, we’ve let the coach down. It’s not a nice feeling.

While you don’t agree with the decision, it’s one that’s been made and you’ve got to accept that. It’ll probably take Danny a few weeks to get over it, but there’s nothing wrong in terms of the relationships with anybody.

If you look at Martin’s statement, we’ve got a very young, hungry board that have come in with some ideas.

On the squad’s reaction…

It’s hard to tell.

We had a discussion on Tuesday, I just sat everybody down and made it quite clear to everybody that this has all happened because of us, the people in that room.

We’ve not been good enough. Myself, the staff, the players… could we have done better? Probably everybody in that room could have.

At the end of the day, it’s a result based industry, and we haven’t had the results this year. The club felt they wanted to go in a different direction.

On Martin Jepson’s change of heart having publicly backed McGuire to succeed in time earlier this year…

It’s probably a conversation for Martin.

I think the board, throughout the year, have been disappointed with the inconsistencies in the performances.

When you’ve got individuals that put in some hard-earned money into the club, they want to see performances.

I felt we hit a new low after the Huddersfield performance. That performance just wasn’t us for one reason or another. We thought we’d turned a corner against Wigan.

That’s probably one for Martin, but we’ve got new board members that wanted to see change on and off the field. The wheels are in motion with a lot of things.

On having no desire to be a head coach again…

I’m just here to support the three coaches that are here. I’m here to front up the media and do all those type of duties.

I don’t want to be a head coach again. I loved my time (doing it) and I had eight years as a head coach, but my primary focus is as a Director of Rugby.

That’s the role I’m still doing now by making decisions on recruitment. I’m simply here to assist and to help out the three good coaches we’ve got here at the club already in Brett Delaney, Scott Murrell and Rob Nickolay.

As I was previous, I’m just a sounding board for those guys. I’ve got some ideas that I think I can help with, but the sessions have been run by those guys with me taking a real close watch on everything that’s going on.

It was a bit of a shock to everyone, it’s a shock to me, but I made it clear that I didn’t want to be a head coach once the board had made the decision.

That’s not my bag any more, and I really enjoy doing the role I currently do, which is recruitment and putting some building blocks in place.

On the three coaches…

Brett Delaney, Scott Murrell and Rob Nickolay, all three are still at the club. We want some kind of continuity.

Whoever that (new head) coach is in the weeks to come, whether that’s in two or three weeks or the end of the season, those guys have made it clear they still want to be here at the club moving forward.

I think they’re excited by what’s happening or going to be happening off the field and excited by the players that we’ve signed.

Those guys are going to play a massive part in this next block of ten games.

On his role alongside the coaches…

I go in and talk to the staff about what the training is, we talk about what we need to do and look at video together.

But I want those guys to deliver on the training field and make the message really clear as to what our dignity is and what we need to do to get results come the weekend.

I’ve got some experience in the coaching department, but I’m just the eyes and ears and an extra voice really.

In terms of what goes on, on the field, I’m present just like I was when Danny was here. But the emphasis is on making sure that these coaches take some responsibility and get some decisions right.

I’m obviously involved in the team selections as well, but I’m just there as some experience. If I need to speak up, I will.

On the new head coach search…

It is (down to me). I’ll obviously have to put some names together.

There’s been well over 20 applications already from UK coaches and overseas, and I think it’s my job to look at those applicants and look at streamlining that list.

I’ll probably get it to a list of about four or five once I’ve done my homework, present it to the board and then we’ll probably sit in front of the applicants and have a bit of an interview.

I just think it’s such an important time for this club. There’s things going on off the field that haven’t been announced yet and there’s a new vision from the board.

It’s really important that we get the appointment for the new head coach right. If that takes until the end of the season, then we’ll do that.

Ideally for me, it’d be done within the next three or four weeks. But we’ve just got to get it right.

There’s no pressure from anybody to make a rash decision or to make an announcement, we’ve got to do what’s right for the club. We’ve got to find a coach that we want here.

I’d rather not be involved in the firing side! But the hiring side, it’ll be my recommendations and I’d like to think the board would trust the person I deem the best applicant.

But again, it’s a board decision. I can give as many ideas as I want, but at the end of the day, they decide with some input from myself.

On the importance of making sure the next appointment is a long-term one…

I think it’s really important. I keep referencing to what’s happening off the field and the board’s ambition, but we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing as a club bringing coaches in and getting rid of them after 12 months.

We need some kind of consistency on and off the field. We’ve got to start rewarding the fans and the board.

We’ve got a board of directors there who are throwing a lot of money in the club and we’ve got to start rewarding those guys.

I think we do that with plenty of effort and desire, we’ve got to keep working hard.

We need a development coach, one that’s going to come in, develop the squad and take them to a. new level.

Whoever that new coach is, we need to make sure we give him some time to build a squad. I’ve already been working very hard off the field in terms of the recruitment and we’ve got six or seven announcements to make in the coming weeks.

That’ll probably come off the other big news coming out of the club, so it’s important that we get it (the appointment) right.

I certainly don’t want to have those conversations anytime soon, because they’re not nice conversations to have.

On what he’s looking for in a coach…

A development coach that’s got experience in the NRL.

I want somebody that’s pretty new and pretty fresh with an attacking style of rugby.

We’ve got some exciting players and we’ve signed some exciting players for 2026, so an attack-minded coach.

I suppose somebody that’s going build and develop us, and make the individuals better.

I look at what John Cartwright’s done at Hull FC and the change he’s made since going in there. I look at the job Adrian Lam did in going from the Championship to Super League and Challenge Cup winners (at Leigh Leopards).

They’re very, very good coaches sin their own right. Lammy’s a guy that can really galvanise a team, and when you look at the squad we assembled there in Super League, he improved every player.

That’s what we’re looking for here in terms of the coach for 2026.

On the identity of the applicants so far…

I think that’s really positive for the club. I think they can feel the direction the club wants to go in and I think it’s really exciting the calibre of applicants that we’ve had e-mail through as well as some phone calls that I’ve had over the last 48 hours.

On recruitment…

We’ve not really had any challenges. From my perspective, it’s all about the vision of the club for the next couple of years.

I’ve had some positive chats with NRL agents and players, and there’s not really been many challenges thrown our way.

We’ve said that this year we’re going to spend the full salary cap, £2.1 million.

We’re well underway with our recruitment. We’ve got six or seven players that are going to improve the squad for 2026.

I will hang fire a bit now (on any further additions) until we know who that head coach is because the last thing I want to do is bring somebody in and the coach then not have anything to work with.

He might want to bring somebody else in, so we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the cap space for that to happen.

We’ve had a lot of good feedback from the agents over in the NRL. There are a lot of players still on the market who want to come over here to the UK, and to Castleford Tigers in particular.

I’m really excited about what the future holds over the next 12/18 months.

With the quota spots going up, that opens another avenue. There’ll be some overseas and UK-based players (that we sign).

On McGuire…

I do (think he can be a successful coach).

He’s a good communicator with his players and has a lot of good traits.

We as a club, and me personally, wish him well. Hopefully he finds another job within Super League.

It’s never a nice thing to have to tell somebody (they’ve lost their job), but I’m sure Danny will bounce back and make a real fist of it, whether it’s as an assistant coach or a head coach at another Super League club.

On Sunday’s clash against Salford…

I think our effort levels need to be a lot higher than they were against Huddersfield. We lacked any real intent and desire that first 15/20 minutes, and that’s not taking anything away from Huddersfield because I thought they did a good job on us.

We’ve got to find some consistency with our team selection and with our performances.

We obviously had a disappointing loss against Hull KR. We felt we’d put in a good performance against Wigan and got close to them, but then fell off a cliff against Huddersfield.

In terms of selection, Fletcher Rooney and Jeremiah Simbiken will come into the mix and Cain Robb comes back from his loan at Salford. We’re able to freshen up a little bit.

We were hopeful that Liam Horne was going to be available. We obviously appealed that (suspension), but it got denied.

From when I addressed the players, I said it’s pretty much a clean slate for everybody. I want to see their effort levels go through the roof in training and if you can do that, then you’ve got an opportunity of playing come the weekend.

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