Hudgell confirms Chester is a candidate
Hull Kingston Rovers chairman Neil Hudgell has confirmed that Chris Chester is in the running to be the club’s head coach next season.
Chester, already in place as an assistant coach at the club, is now in charge of the first team until the end of the current season.
That follows the dismissal of Craig Sandercock, who could not agree a new deal at Rovers.
KR hammered St Helens 40-10 at the weekend, giving Chester the perfect start to his spell.
“I’m open-minded at the moment but I hope Chris earns a full-time deal,” Hudgell told his club’s official website.
“He’s very well thought of in the game, he’s served his time as Justin Morgan and Craig’s assistant and he’s in the box seat at the moment.
“We’re not going out trawling for a new coach at this moment in time. We’ll review our options probably with the hope and the expectation that Chris will earn a longer deal over the next few weeks.
“I was very pleased with Sunday’s performance and it looked like the team played with a lot of confidence and without fear really. It’s obviously only one performance but it’s a performance that sets Chris off on the right tone.”
Hudgell also confirmed that there has been some interest in the vacancy for next season already.
“Yes, loads,” he said. “There’ll be two less teams in the competition next year and fortunately we’re going to be one of the 12 that remain but there’s not many jobs around.
“There are a lot of people throwing their hat into the ring and that’s good, but our focus at the moment is on supporting Chris and I’ll be disappointed if at the end of the process, Chris isn’t offered a long-term deal.”
Hudgell also promised Rovers fans that there will be some new players in place for next season, whoever ends up as coach.
“The coach recruits. The chairman and the board give a budget, but the coach recruits and that’s always been the case,” he explained.
“We’re ninth in the table at the minute and that was on the back of what we thought was really good recruitment, so we won’t be rushing into anything or panic buying.
“My message to the supporters is that we’re going to be active. We’re hopefully going to recruit quality rather than quantity and we’re not going to knee-jerk. Next season doesn’t start for another seven months so we won’t be rushing it.”