According to John Davidson the journalist the coaching shortlist is as follows John Duffy, Anthony Murray and Micky higham as well as Ryan O’Brien
Apart from duffer's.. if that is the shortlist we are fucked.
If the short list posted is correct then it cannot be anyone other that Duffy, why they would even interview anyone like Higham is beyond me.
The Shortlist came from an article/tweet by a journalist John Davidson initially.
Finney did say on Radio about 3? weeks ago that he was looking end of May start of June.
Feel personally it should have been done quicker.
Surely announcement this time next week on his timescale?
Exactly RV. A small town, part-time rugby club is what we are, hardly Manchester Utd or Barcelona.We tried that in Super League, pretending to be big time with CEO, marketing manager and a plethora of coaching staff and various hangers on.
I agree with other posters who say there is no immediate rush to appoint a coach, but purely because there is enough really bad teams to ensure we will not get embroiled in a relegation battle, and that means we have some time.
However, we need to secure a new coaches commitment sooner rather than later, so he (or she ), will have sufficient time in the off season to recruit new players.
I still think that it would be good practice for the club to offer the occasional update, even if is just to say we have no news yet. It just helps people stay connected.
Bradford have said that applications are still being accepted until June 5th and then they will start to draw up a shortlist so they are making slower progress than we are.They say it's an important decision which can't be rushed and I agree with that.I just hope we don't settle on tossing a coin to choose and ending up with the same as before.Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
The choices are limited. any decent coach already has a job as we are a third through the season and doubt if we can pry away an already employed coach from his club. that leaves us with coaches who are not coaching because clubs deem them not good enough or who have not coached in a while. this would be a huge risk. We may get an interim coach till the end of the season and appoint one for next season and let things run as they are but the problem with that is recruitment would not be by next years coach.
Not sure which scenario is best think I would prefer to wait until the end of the season for a decent coach but this probably would see a drop in attendances.
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/john-kear-widnes-vikings-coach-24127536
John Kear considered for Widnes Vikings coaching role
John Kear has emerged as a contender to become Widnes Vikings head coach, Rugby League Live understands. Kear, who is currently without a club coaching job following his departure from Bradford Bulls in April, has been described as a primary candidate for the position.
Kear, 67, has enjoyed a superb career that has seen him take charge of clubs such as Hull FC, Wakefield Trinity, PSG and Sheffield Eagles, where he famously won the Challenge Cup in 1998. But any thoughts of Kear stepping away from coaching appear to be premature with a stint at the Vikings thought to be a possibility.
The Vikings have undertaken a prolonged selection process ever since the departure of Simon Finnigan, who coincidentally departed Widnes the same day as Kear did the Bulls. Ironically, Widnes host Bradford, Kear's old club, on Thursday.
Widnes are taking their time with the appointment as they prepare for a significant period in the club's history. It's believed the club will be increasing their playing budget for next season and they have already signed Kyle Amor ahead of next season. Rugby League Live understands they have held talks with other current Super League players regarding a move to the club next season.
Other coaches have also been in the mix for the position, with North Wales Crusaders boss Anthony Murray believed to have been in contention. However, off-field commitments meant he was unable to go further through the selection process.
Kear has not been short of offers since departing Odsal. Alongside his World Cup coaching role with Wales, he is believed to have received interest from a number of clubs including one of his former ones, Wakefield, though Trinity distanced themselves from reports of Kear returning in an operations role. Kear is thought to still be considering several of those options.
John Kear. Wow.
That sounds like just speculation, no quotes from anyone, just the paper saying what some fans on here have been saying, that Kear COULD be one of the candidates
Kear certainly has contacts in Yorkshire, the home of big forwards! Plus he is in the World Cup upper echelons and will have player contacts there of course.
I wonder just how much cash Bradford will be able pull in under the new 'city' status? The club maybe hoping for an influx to be able to sign bigger than at present and are tooling up for next year?
Have to agree that even small snippets of interesting info really help to keep our fans involved and interested. Maybe a supporter who is a junior journalist could help. Not knowing just what the club staffing is doesn't help either, though I can see that keeping it down to essentials is probably necessary to maximise team funding.
There would certainly be criticism if they took on admin staff so you can't have it both ways!
Regarding backroom staff it sounds as if Beswick is happy here and maybe the club are happy with his efforts?
Think the positives out weigh the negatives with kear I do get people who say he may be a bit over the hill however he has had bradford and Batley competing in play off rugby more often than he didn’t in this league, which is far more than what we have managed to achieve also has a huge amount of contacts when it comes to recruitment and knows the division inside out as well as having a lot of top level experience, on the whole beggars can’t be choosers and much rather have him than a retired player with no coaching experience think he ticks a few boxes for us in terms of recruitment and player links as well as experience
Of equal interest in that report to me is that we are increasing the playing budget and are talking to SL players like Amor. That is significant as I presume they realise the importance of getting Top 5/6 next year.
As for Kear, finished 6th and 5th with Bradford, guess about par for the course, but got them promoted and also did well at Batley. Certainly got more of a track record in the Championship than most.