Castleford Tigers are under pressure sat in eleventh as they’ve been dragged into a relegation battle given the form of Wakefield Trinity and Andy Last’s side know that a loss tonight against Huddersfield Giants could see them drop to the bottom of Super League on points difference.
There’s been plenty of outside pressure on the club from fans who are udnerstandably disppointed given that the team have won just four of seventeen games under Last in the league.
When asked about that, and in particular the comments made on social media, Andy last told BBC West Yorkshire that he doesn’t engage with it at all.
“Don’t listen to it. Social media, you know, Facebook, all that type of stuff, it’s just negativity that I don’t need in my life, so I stay well away from it.
“Those people can say what they like on the forums and all that type of stuff, the only time I hear about it is from someone like yourself telling me or someone on the street telling me. I can’t let that affect my mentality going into games. I’m not aware of it and I don’t let it affect me.”
He was also asked if he felt he had the backing of the club and he used it as an opportunity to address the Fords’ loyal supporters.
“The backing of the club 100%, the playing group are fully behind me, I know the club are fully behind me and there’s sections of the supporters who are maybe not but there’s a lot of the supporters who are. Those are the die-hards, they support the team, they don’t just support the coach, they support the team. We need those supporters with the team. I think that’s really, really important.
“They’ve been brilliant in supporting the team, and I want them to continue supporting the team. They can air their frustrations at me, I understand that, I understand that comes with the territory, there’s a lot of passion and a lot of emotion involved on game nights and it becomes very emotional.”
Fans have been encouraged to get down to the Jungle tonight to boost the side with their support, something that Last praised.
“If they air their opinions and their discontent with obviously me, I understand their frustrations and I understand that’s what comes with the role of being the head coach, but I just want them to support that team and get behind the team as much as they possibly can and they have done.
“We had good support away at the Hull Kingston Rovers and the players went over at the end of the game and clapped them and the fans supported that team and we just want them to continue to do that.”
