Following the shock news that saw Oldham RLFC part ways with head coach Sean Long, the Championship club have now revealed what made them decide a change was needed.
Former St Helens half-back, Long, was appointed in the role at the start of the 2024 season, and won promotion from League One to the second tier in first first year in charge.
In the Championship, Oldham finished fourth, and recorded big wins over the likes of York Knights and Widnes Vikings.
Making the play-offs, the club crashed out in disappointing fashion, suffering a 40-4 defeat to Halifax Panthers, ending their campaign and hopes of a second league title in as many years.
Despite their recent success, the club have decided to pull the plug on Long’s stint at the helm, with the Roughyeds announcing earlier this week that he has mutually agreed to leave his role.
The decision left many fans with more questions than answers, with the former Great Britain international highly thought of amongst the Oldham fanbase.
The club have revealed how his exit came about, whilst also paying respect to Long and his efforts as head coach.
Sean Long exit discussed as Championship club “not happy” with where they currently are
Chairman Bill Quinn and newly-appointed Director of Rugby, Mike Ford, sat down to discuss the proceedings, whilst also providing insight into how the club will move forward.
With the reason for his exit being wanting to improve, Quinn stated how the side don’t want to rest on their laurels, and how imperative it is that they strive to continue their incline.
“Our vision from when we took over the club is to move the club on in every department, in every way we can. Sometimes you have to do that at different times, in different ways.
“We’ve never stood still, we’re always looking to be better, to go forward. We test ourselves, we talk to each other, we push each other.
“I think that’s why there’s been such an aggressive progression that we’ve made so far.”
Commenting on the on-field changes that involved Long, he added: “We looked at everything that we possibly could do to maybe change to improve. We came up with a different idea.
“Mike was going to go to the role of Director of Rugby. It was already pre-set so I don’t want anyone thinking that suddenly we’re scrambling or we’re changing things or doing things because we’re not.
“We had a clear vision. We had a clear pathway going forward of how we’d like to change things so that we can improve as a club on and off the field. We then put to Sean and then Sean had the choice to accept that.
“I did a lot of discussions with Sean over the last week to talk about it and basically, Sean didn’t see that that was his vision going forward.”
The pair both had nothing but praise to give to Long, with Quinn saying: “At the end of the day, Sean’s done a great job for us. We wish him well in whatever he does, whichever direction he goes in.
“He brought us to where we are now, but, as a club, we we’re not happy with where we are now. We want to progress. We want to get better and want to do better things. To do that, you’ve got to change, and if you change, you have a chance.
Ford added: “2024 was special, we won the [title] by a canter and he got us to the top four.
“Most organisations panic or change direction when the club’s going bad. With the mindset of the board, we never stand still.
“There’s a little bit of me thinking fourth was a great finish, but also we should have done a lot better than fourth, hence why we’re looking to accelerate our progression on the field now. We’re not waiting for it to go pear-shaped.”
The club will be on the lookout for a potential new coach, or coaches, as Ford mentioned, however they are in no rush in waiting for the right person to take the role.
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