Keighley Cougars have announced they have parted company with head coach Matt Foster with immediate effect.
DOR Jake Webster said: “We would like to thank Matt for his commitment and service to the club and it is disappointing that we lose a coach half way through a season however, he leaves with our very best wishes.”
Kaue Garcia, Cougars MD said: “Sport is a tough business and from the outside this perhaps looks like a hard decision, but when we see performances start to dip we have to pay attention while having one eye on the future. For the board, as a collective, this season performances have been inconsistent and with Rochdale (A), Midlands (A), Cornwall (A) and the draw with Rochdale fresh in our minds we feel we have to be better with everything at stake this season.”
DOR Jake Webster will take over on an interim basis while the club’s search for a new head coach begins. The club is open to expressions of interest in the role and should be directed to steven@cougarmania.co.uk
Top of the league.
Good chance of going up.
Bad bad.
Don’t you learn from last season.
APPARENTLY NOT.
Last season revisited? Need to look at what’s going on internally and let those who know how to coach, get on with it. Really bad call and the statement given just doesn’t add up.
Unbelievable do they never learn.
Absolutely ridiculous decision. Top of the League. 1 defeat and 1 draw, and we’ll be right up there for promotion. I’m guessing we haven’t learnt from last seasons disaster
Wanted rugby coach for highly positioned local first division club, experience would help but must be thick skinned and be willing to work with a team chosen by the directors.
This advert will not attract the person we require?
Is this the real reason for Matts disagreement?
Must feel very sad for his departure.
Absolutely ridiculous situation where director of rugby brings in players and not the coach it will always cause friction no coach will want to come to keighley if he can’t bring in the players he wants
I have to agree with last comment. Why would you sign any players that the coach doesn’t want?
The buck stops with Garcia & (Ryan) O’Neil. Having appointed both Foster & Webster, why weren’t they having regular dialogue with both in group discussions? Imagine leaving the Head Coach & Director of Rugby to just get on with it, without any backroom leadership.
As soon as the first incident was noted, it should have been nipped in the bud. To allow it to fester and then grow, is not acceptable. If they had spoken to Foster and explained their expectations from him in relation to his dealings with Webster, this may not have got to this state.
I’m all for a transfer committee lead by a DoR. However, the Head Coach still has to have some input & agreement in the decisions. Now, if he’s just rejecting names out of spite (as has been indicated here), then this is another reason why Garcia & O’Neil have failed. Had they been present in those discussions, Foster would have had to have had a good reason to reject the players.
As I say, the co-owners are to blame here and until they run the club professionally, nothing will change. Instead of spending so much time promoting the club as a LGBTQ+ ambassador, it should do the things that owners should be involved in..!!!!
Day of reckoning tomorrow. When we see if the owners and directors were right in sacking our coach.
Judge there decisions by the results we see at Boundary Park where we face Oldham tomorrow.