Former Great Britain representative appointed head coach of promotion hopefuls till end of 2023

It’s been a busy couple of days for head coach casualites with Sunday evening seeing the dismissal of Daryl Powell from Warrington Wolves following a heavy defeat to Wakefield Trinity, one that rounded off a six game losing streak.

This evening has seen another head coach casualty with League One Oldham RLFC confirming that Stuart Littler has left the club “after being relieved of his position”.

Littler had led Oldham to fifth in League One still well within the playoff places as they sat nine points ahead of sixth place North Wales Crusaders, however a string of results including three losses in their last four has led to his dismissal.

The club confirmed the news via their website and also added that Mike Ford, former Great Britain international, would take on the role of interim head coach till the end of the current season.

“Oldham RLFC can confirm that Stuart Littler has left the club after being relieved of his position as head coach.

“Mike Ford will take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season, supported by assistant coach Brendan Sheridan, who will remain in post.

Club Chairman Bill Quinn said: “We’d like to thank Stuart for all his hard work and commitment since joining the club. However, recent results and performances have been disappointing and fallen short of our expectations.

“We strongly believe that our playing group is more than capable of achieving our goal of promotion.

“With the play-offs fast approaching, the board felt that the time was right to take a new direction to give us the best possible chance of achieving that goal”.

“The board will now begin the process of searching for a new Head Coach to take the club forward from next season.”

The club have confirmed that they will begin their planning for 2024 however they still remain with a strong chance in the playoffs given their large points gap to Crusaders in sixth.

Currently Dewsbury are walking about with the league, sat on 29 points, ahead of chasers Hunslet whom Oldham were defeated by most recently.

The story of League One would be Cornwall with the team now pushing towards the playoffs with four wins this season including an epic win over Crusaders this past weekend.