In anticipation of Sunday’s Super League matchup against Salford Red Devils, Chris Chester, the former director of rugby for Castleford Tigers and current interim manager, made his first public appearance since the club fired Danny McGuire.
On Monday, I was summoned to a board meeting. The club has recently added a number of new board members, and some ambitious off-field ideas have been proposed.
In the board room, it was decided that they believed our club had regressed.
We are in a worse position than we were a year ago in terms of the points and the outcomes. After 17 games, I believe we were sitting on 11 points last year; this year, we’re sitting on eight.
The board decided they needed a fresh approach and they needed to bring somebody else in to lead us into a new era in 2026.
It was a very difficult day for everybody. I had to deliver the news to Danny straight after the board meeting, and he was obviously very disappointed, as you’d expect.
On letting McGuire know he had been sacked…
It wasn’t a phone call, I had to go and meet Danny face-to-face.
I’ve been in that position where it’s been done on a call and I’ve had it where it’s been done face-to-face. I just thought the right thing to do to chat to Danny face-to-face on it.
It didn’t go down well and Danny was obviously very disappointed with the decision, which I understand.
We’ve got a new board here, there are some new board members that have come in and wanted to see change.
It’s always a difficult situation and I’ve got to support the board in every way I possibly can.
On his input in the decision…
There were no disagreements whatsoever. I’ve supported Danny from day one of walking through the door.
