A MESSAGE FROM EL SUPREMO
Good Afternoon and a warm welcome to Cougar Park for this afternoon's Derek Hallas Trophy fixture against the Leeds Rhinos.
First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for their support, help and work to get the club going forward over the last two weeks.
The town is buzzing and we’re expecting a large crowd and many Leeds fans are making the trip to support the new Cougar regime.
Now we are out of special measures, we have registered our initial squad with the RFL and they are raring to go now for the new season.
We will be meeting with (Head Coach) Craig Lingard and (Football Manager) Gary Moorby to look at strengthening the squad so please don’t panic if early results don’t go our way.
We have this week completed the signing of Macauley Hallett from Dewsbury who is a centre with a phenomenal strike rate in the Championship over the last two seasons.
A number of clubs including Leeds, Bradford and Featherstone have offered us players on loan and we are thankful for their help and support.
I'm really excited. It's like I have never been away somehow.
I want everybody to be happy and enjoy it, instead of the nonsense that's been going on.
I want to be in charge for 18 months and then get some younger people to take over. Unless I get carried away and decide to stay longer.
I'm over here for now to try to get things organised. I will look to come back again in March, then I will stay for two or three months.
That's why I wanted to come over, I did not need to, but I think it's my duty to come over to thank the supporters. They have been brilliant.
If the players have stuck this long with Craig and have stayed loyal they deserve a little bit of credit for that.
We could make the top six this season with a bit of luck. We can compete, the world is our oyster.
OUR PRESIDENT
Phil Stephenson was appointed Club President of the Keighley Cougars following the takeover of the club by Mick O'Neill.
The former captain and Cougars Hall of Famer holds the record for the most number of appearances for Keighley in the summer era.
The long-serving prop played 343 games for the club in a 15-year spell before retiring at the age of 34 at the end of the 2006 season, having been part of the successful 'Cougarmania' period during the 1990s.
During his time with the Cougars, 'Stepho' won many honours with the club including the Premiership triumphs during Cougarmania and also the 2003 National League Two title under Gary Moorby.
Since Phil's diagnosis in 2017, fundraising efforts for the Motor Neurone Disease have been many and successful.
After wife Karen led a team of runners through the Manchester Half Marathon in October 2017, Phil then headed to Australia for the Rugby League World Cup where he met England and South Sydney Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess.
Last summer, there was a fun day at Cougar Park which w as a huge success, with many excited fans watching players past and present battle it out in the Linner's Legends v Stevo's Select contest which was won 48-12 by Linners side.
The Cougars will continue their support of MNDA with the charity's logo being featured on the Cougars first team jersey and training wear this season.
A MESSAGE FROM CRAIG LINGARD
Good Afternoon and a warm welcome to Cougar Park for this afternoon’s Derek Hallas Trophy fixture against the Leeds Rhinos.
With this being our only pre-season friendly, we really need to make the most of this match in terms of our preparation for next weekend’s League One opener at Whitehaven.
Being a month behind in terms of preparation isn’t ideal but the lads have been fantastic and the squad we’ve got together are raring to go and will be proud to represent Keighley Cougars this season.
It is going to be difficult for us this season. The points deduction doesn't help, as the league is smaller.
We need six wins to get back to zero points. There is no guarantee, but we are aiming to do it from our first six games. We are still putting a team together. If we win six games, we then only have another 14 games to do anything this season.
We don't just want to survive, we want to compete as much as we can. We want to get those 12 points as soon as we can. Then we will assess it and see where we are.
Every single one of the League One predictions for this season has Keighley finishing bottom. Everybody has written us off. That has motivated the players. We will print off these predictions and take them on the road with us, as well as for home games and us them as a motivation.
We are that far behind that we are now where most teams were at the end of last season. We are under no illusions of the tasks we have ahead for us this season.
We are going to throw everything at it. If we stayed up and got into the play-offs it would be a Cinderella story. There is never a dull moment at Keighley Cougars.
I'm getting calls from people who have played in the Super League and the Championship and want to play for us as they haven't got a team yet.
Now there is an aura of hope around the town and we need to embrace and utilise that. We want to create the 2019 version of Cougarmania.
Enjoy today’s game.
DEREK HALLAS
This afternoon's game is the inaugral Derek Hallas Trophy match. Dave Kirkley takes a look at Derek's life and career as well as previous meeting between Keighley and Leeds featuring Hallas.
A THANK YOU TO THE LEEDS RHINOS
Everyone at the Keighley Cougars would like to publically put on record our thanks to the Leeds Rhinos for their help during this difficult period.
Gary Hetherington and those associated with the Leeds club have been of great help in allowing Cougarmania Ltd. to return to Cougar Park and begin to restore the Keighley Cougars to a Rugby League club the town can be proud of and also restore the club to its former glories.
The Rhinos board have been massively supportive of Mick O’Neill and the rest of the board of directors getting back involved with Keighley Cougars and especially with the board of the Rugby Football League during the takeover process.
The offer to help the Cougars both on and off the field with the offer of players on loan and this afternoon’s Derek Hallas Trophy fixture and it is greatly appreciated by both the board and all involved with the Keighley Cougars club.
Despite a tough start to the Betfred Super League season last weekend with defeat away at the Warrington Wolves, we would like to wish Dave Furner and his side the best of luck for the remainder of their season as they look to build on and bounce back a disappointing 2018 season.
We hope all Leeds Rhinos supporters who are in attendance this afternoon enjoy their day with us at Cougar Park and with the Rhinos playing nearly all their Super League fixtures on Friday nights, they will come join us throughout the season and adopt the Cougars as their second team.
INTROUDCING THE NEW BOYS
The first new signing this week was Jamie Thackray.
The 39-year-old, who enjoyed a 20-year career which ended at Doncaster in 2017, will add much-needed experience to Craig Lingard's side.
Thackray played for Hull in the 2005 Challenge Cup Final from the interchange bench in their victory against the Leeds Rhinos. He had three appearances for Great Britain that same year.
His previous clubs include Castleford Tigers, Hull FC, Doncaster and London Broncos and he has scored 32 tries in 287 appearances in his career so far.
The second new signing this week was centre Macauley Hallett from the Dewsbury Rams.
The club would like to place on record its massive thank you to the Squadbuilder for their help in securing this deal and would encourage fans who are not already members to sign up and continue to help fund the signing of players such as Macauley Hallett.
A product of the highly successful youth system at the Hull Kingston Rovers, the centre arrives at Cougar Park following three seasons in the Championship where he scored 33 tries in 69 appearances.
The third new signing is Jimmy Beckett on a month's loan from the Featherstone Rovers.
The young Prop, a Featherstone lad, supporter and club ballboy, joined the Rovers ahead of this season after departing the Castleford Tigers youth system after beginning his career with amateur club Featherstone Lions.
Joining Jimmy on a month's loan from the Rovers is fellow Prop Spencer Darley.
A product of the Leeds Rhinos youth system, Darley was a part of the Rhinos side that just missed out on the academy grand final last season before joining Featherstone at the end of this season.
PLAYER IN FOCUS WITH JAMES FEATHER
When the club was in crisis, I didnt hesitate to come out of retirement and do my bit.
Even though I was retired, I was still training and keeping myself fit and even though I was a bit sore after that first game back at Workington, it felt good to be back out on the field with the players.
I'm still 34 years old and have a lot to offer, especially in such a young squad and with three talented hookers to work with.
Billy, Chris and Luke are all extremely talented in their own ways and came through good youth systems. The fans will love all three of them as the season goes on.
I retired for the wrong reasons really, personal reasons. When I was watching the games last year I really missed being out there, I felt that when I dropped into training I still had enough to offer.
When Craig invited me back into play when the club were struggling financially I said yes I’ll come and play.
If I play one game, I play one game. If I play them all I play them all. I’ll be working as hard as anybody to put pressure on them all and hopefully I might get a shot.
I’m chuffed to see the lads back out there, not only as a player over the last 17 years, I’ve also been a lifelong supporter of the club since I was seven years old.
A couple of weeks ago there was a massive possibility that there wasn’t going to be a Keighley Cougars so I thought all the hard work and enjoyment over the last 17 years had gone.
When false promises were being made, this is when it started to upset players.
2019 will be my final season though, I will retire at the end of 2019.
SUPPORTERS CLUB AND SQUADBUILDER UPDATE
The Supporters Club would firstly like to thank everyone for their incredible Support over the last few, very difficult months.
We have all been blown away by the response we've had and we are now just a few members shy of 250.
We have raised almost £1500 in just a few months, which is remarkable considering that fundraising opportunities have been few and far between due to the issues at the club.
This money has so far allowed us to buy a new ball pump for the coaching staff, provide breakfast for the team at the open training session a few weeks back, and has enabled us to subsidise the coach travel up to Whitehaven.
Essentially, anytime the lads require something to help with their training, or for match days, we want to be able to provide for them. Importantly, we also aim to make travel to away matches as cheap as possible, so everyone has the opportunity to support the team on the road. This season more than ever our fans need to get fully behind the lads both at home and away, we really can be the 18th man.
Ultimately, the more our members support us with regards to away coach travel the cheaper it will get. It has to be said, the response so far has been outstanding, with 84 people choosing to travel with us on the coaches to Whitehaven.
We can't speak highly enough of J&B Travel, who have been extremely accommodating and have enabled us to provide the Cougar fans with an excellent deal. As most people know, we are hoping to get a Cougar Convoy going up to Whitehaven.
The coaches will be leaving Wetherspoons in Keighley at 10:30am on the 17th, giving people the opportunity to grab some breakfast in Wetherspoons before we set off for Whitehaven.
Anyone wanting to join the convoy that isn't on the coaches can park along Scott Street behind Wetherspoons or on Scott Street car park next to the Balti House and depart with the coaches down to Cougar Park where we will be following the team bus to Whitehaven. The coaches will be making a comfort break on route at one of the services on the M6.
All children travelling on the coaches will also receive a goody bag containing drinks, snacks and a couple of extra surprises!
We hope to be in a position to announce details about our next fundraising event very soon. Anyone who is interested in helping out at any Supporters Club events, please get in touch at kcrlfcsuporters@yahoo.com.
We are always on the lookout for willing volunteers. Lastly, as a committee we would like to thank our former GM Steve Gill. In the short time Steve was with us he re-launched the Supporters Club.
We believe this has been one of the most important things Steve did while at the Club. Having a Supporters Club over the last few months has been invaluable and it has given our fans a voice and allowed us to organise ourselves in the fight to get our club back.
We are now looking forward to this exciting new chapter in our clubs history and can't wait to work with Mick, Ryan, Kaue, Gary and the rest of the board to strengthen the relationship between the club and the Supporters.
Once again thank you to everyone for your support.
Now that the focus has shifted away from saving our Club towards how we can rebuild our club, I want to ask our loyal supporters for help once again.
The Squadbuilder Fund exists to provide direct financial assistance to our coach to strengthen the playing side of the business; it makes no contributions whatsoever to the management of the ground or it's day to day running - it is entirely focused on the rugby and the on field performance of the team.
Discussions are ongoing as to the best use of the fund in the current season, but one thing is clear to everyone, we will need more funding to keep building and to improve the strength of our team. This fund is complementary to any fund raising undertaken by the Supporters' Club, not in competition with it.
So how does it work? Members donate a minimum of £11 a month to the fund, from which £1 goes to Manorlands, our local hospice, and all of the rest is used for supporting the team. In return, you get a free programme and not much else other than the satisfaction that you are directly helping in a tangible and positive way.
It is much appreciated by players and coaches alike. One thing we do have in place already for this season is a contract for a video and statistical analysis service for each game - invaluable in developing the team and each individual player.
So sign up now. The new leadership needs all the help it can get and they fully support Squadbuilder to play a part in the revitalisation of the club. Contact the Fund administrator Margaret Procter on 07980893003 or email dave.procter@hotmail.com. Alternatively call in to the shop on match days (it is now open again).
Thanks very much in anticipation of your support.
Margaret Procter.
KEIGHLEY VERSUS LEEDS
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