Featherstone Rovers chief Paddy Handley keen to establish consistency at club - starting with keeping James Ford

The turn round in coaches has been notable in recent years since Daryl Powell’s time and the man who took charge of the club as chairman in 2024 is keen to bring about more consistency.

Handley is confident he has the right man in Ford and has backed him with some key signings that the head coach approves of.

He said: “When I look back to my days the four seasons I was here I had four coaches and when I was talking to Ian Hardman, who had 10 years down here, he said he thought he had 11. How do you create a club with consistency when you keep changing the coach?

"Sometimes it’s fall outs, or the chairman might believe that somebody could do better or maybe it’s fan pressure that gets to the coach perhaps. We need to look long and hard about this.

"I’ve known James Ford since I was playing down here and he was a ball boy. I’ve known him at York for the years and years he was there and he brought a lot of young guys on who went on to do bigger and better things.

"I think we need that stability."

Handley added: "No-one can say never, but for me I’d like to see some consistency at this club – I think it’s something it’s lacked over the years.

"It’s not always the coach being pushed out the door, sometimes it’s the coach walking out the door historically.

"But I believe in James Ford we’ve got a very good young coach who really does know his stuff. I’m keen to see what he can do.

"I think for the first time in a very long time maybe we have a coach at Featherstone that has hand selected, green lighted every single player.

"I think there are 24 of them currently and every single player is his or Ian Hardman’s man. I think that should prove to be a very good combination.”

Rovers are set to warm up for the new campaign with three pre-season games confirmed so far. They take on League One newcomers Goole Vikings at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday, January 12 then host Dewsbury Rams on January 18 and Huddersfield Giants on February 2.