appointing a new head coach<\/a>.<\/p>\nDanny McGuire\u2019s shock sacking has seen a host of candidates apply to take the reins at Castleford with Chester previously confirming that over 20 candidates applied.<\/p>\n
That number is now down to five and interviews will be conducted over the coming days with a likely appointment and potential announcement made next Friday, with Chester speaking to the media about his \u2018busy few days\u2019.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to certain individuals over the last seven days. I\u2019ve got a couple more calls to make and a couple of interviews at the back end of this week and early next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve narrowed the search down to five and we\u2019ll interview those five over the next few days. We have a board meeting next Friday and I\u2019d like to think by next Friday we will have announced a head coach, that\u2019s certainly the plan. It\u2019s been a busy few days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Chester explains Castleford Tigers head coach timeline<\/p>\n
With such a large number of applicants, Chester admitted that it\u2019s been very difficult to narrow the pool down, particularly given the quality of those interested in the job.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s been very difficult to narrow that down to the number we\u2019ve narrowed it down to but we\u2019re very optimistic and very impressed with the candidates we\u2019ve had apply for the job. Some surprising ones. I\u2019ve been really happy with the quality of candidates we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the timeline, Chester explained that an announcement is what the club hope to do by next Friday but with the majority of the final five in jobs at the moment, he doesn\u2019t expect the new head coach to take over until pre-season.<\/p>\n
The Castleford Tigers interim coach explained: \u201cWe\u2019d like to get an announcement in, but a lot of these guys are already contracted to clubs. I\u2019d say probably four out of five are contracted overseas, and I think they would like to do the right thing and finish the season off at their respected clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be an appointment, but the guy will be here for the first day of pre-season. I\u2019ve just got to manage things next probably seven or eight weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever that coach is going to be, I\u2019ll be in dialogue with that coach and asking him for advice on plans and working on certain game plans for the rest of this year as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been quite a swift process given the number of applicants and it\u2019s not the only positive news that is set to come out of Wheldon Road in the coming weeks, with Chester speaking passionately about the state of the club at the moment and what is to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited about what\u2019s going on behind the scenes and the announcements that we\u2019re going to make,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of positive news that comes out of this club over the coming weeks, and certainly the head coach will be at the forefront of that. Like I said, I\u2019ve got to make sure it\u2019s the right guy and the right fit for the club, and I\u2019ll make sure that I do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chester will oversee a third game in charge on Friday night when the Tigers travel to face St Helens. It\u2019s already been confirmed that they\u2019ll be without Innes Senior who had season-ending surgery on his ankle earlier this week, whilst Jeremiah Simbiken is another who misses out through suspension.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Castleford Tigers head of rugby Chris Chester has shed light on the search for a head coach, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-306875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114948511142714378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Castleford](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/OHO7657.jpg\")
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