Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin admits he thought news of Danny McGuire’s sacking was a joke at first, with the decision hard to fathom. McGuire was relieved of his duties at Castleford Tigers on Monday evening, with the Tigers communicating the decision out of the blue on their social media channels.
It came just a few days after the club’s loss to Huddersfield Giants on home soil and that result was cited by chairman and owner Martin Jepson in the press release, outlining his disappointment with the performance and result.
However, the Tigers had largely been trending upwards, beating Hull FC and pushing Wigan Warriors within a couple of minutes of a huge shock in the weeks previous.
That meant Wilkin wasn’t the only person surprised when the news filtered through at the start of the week with the pundit speculating as to why such a decision may have been made.
Jon Wilkin reacts to Castleford Tigers’ sacking of Danny McGuire
“I was blown away,” Wilkin told Sky Sports. “I thought it was a joke actually.
“Danny McGuire is one of the most promising young British coaches in the game, a legend and one of the top tryscorers of all time. It reminded me today, we’ve seen Christian Horner get let go by Red Bull and I think with Danny McGuire it’s similar.
“There’s been so little information come out about why and the void is then filled with speculation.
“I’m going to speculate there had to be something acute that’s happened, whether it’s between him and Chris Chester or Chris Chester, the board and him. Something has happened.
“You just don’t move a guy like Danny McGuire on at this stage of the year, when you’ve seemingly said in the past you’re going to give him time to get it right. We’ll find out but it’s just a strange one.”
McGuire leaves Castleford sitting 10th in the Super League table with director of rugby Chris Chester taking the reins on an interim basis until a new permanent head coach can be found.
