Featherstone Rovers chief Paddy Handley keen to establish consistency at club – starting with keeping James Ford
Since Daryl Powell’s tenure, there has been a noticeable improvement in the coaching staff, and the man who became chairman of the club in 2024 is eager to restore stability.
Handley has made some significant additions that the head coach approves of since he is certain he has the right man in Ford.
“When I think back to my days, I had four coaches during the four seasons I was here, and when I was talking to Ian Hardman, who had been down here for ten years, he said he thought he had eleven,” he stated. When you continually switching coaches, how can you build a consistent club?
“Sometimes it’s fall outs, or the chairman might believe that somebody could do better or maybe it’s fan pressure that gets to the coach perhaps. We need to look long and hard about this.
“I’ve known James Ford since he was a ball boy and I was playing down here. He brought a number of young individuals to York who went on to do greater and better things, and I’ve known him for the many years he was there.
“I think we need that stability.”
Nobody can say never, but I would like to see some continuity at this club because I believe it has been lacking over the years,” Handley continued.
“It’s not always the coach being pushed out the door, sometimes it’s the coach walking out the door historically.
“But I believe in James Ford we’ve got a very good young coach who really does know his stuff. I’m keen to see what he can do.
“I think for the first time in a very long time maybe we have a coach at Featherstone that has hand selected, green lighted every single player.
“I think there are 24 of them currently and every single player is his or Ian Hardman’s man. I think that should prove to be a very good combination.”
With three preseason games already confirmed, Rovers will get warmed up for the upcoming season. On Sunday, January 12, they play the League One newcomers Goole Vikings at the Millennium Stadium.
On January 18, they host the Dewsbury Rams, and on February 2, they host the Huddersfield Giants.
