Mike Ford will enlist the help of his son, the England fly-half George, to revolutionise the fortunes of third-tier rugby league club Oldham Roughyeds after completing a surprise takeover of his hometown club.
Ford, the former Bath head coach who has spent the last 20 years coaching in union, will return to the sport where he made his name as a player after being unveiled as the head of a five-strong consortium of a club who have not played in Super League since 1997, and now play in front of crowds well under 1,000 in the lowest professional tier in rugby league.
In a bid to help transform the fortunes of the club, Ford has revealed that George, who remains under contract at Premiership side Sale but has never hidden his desire to play league at some point, will get involved with coaching and mentoring sessions with Oldham’s part-time players before admitting other well-known names from the area could also follow suit.
“We’ve talked about that, me and George,” Mike Ford said. “To have guest sessions with people like George and Kyle Eastmond, and George will do a bit of that for sure. They’ll bring something different and every now and again, the lads here will get some sessions with them. I’ll be helping out too, I’ll mentor the current coach Stuart [Littler] to make the team better.”
Ford Sr also admitted that he still envisages his son fulfilling his childhood dream of playing rugby league in the future though it is unlikely to be with Oldham, where the players are all part-time and barely earn five-figure salaries for their excursions on the field. “He’s an Oldham boy, George, and he’d love to have a go at it,” he said. “He’ll get to the World Cup, then he might go for another four years or so because he’s under contract with Sale but then who knows. He’s always fancied a go at rugby league.”
The leader of the new ownership consortium will also call on the expertise of well-known rugby league figures from the Lancashire town including the former Great Britain captain, Paul Sculthorpe, and the current England defence coach, Kevin Sinfield, to help execute his vision for the club. They will return to Boundary Park from next year to groundshare with the town’s football team, Oldham Athletic, and Ford admitted he knew he would return to the club where he spent two spells as a player during his own career in rugby league.
“I always felt I’d come back one day, but not in this position,” Ford, who admitted his day-to-day role in the new consortium is still to be finalised, said. “For the last 20 years, Oldham rugby has been stuck for whatever reason. It’s not about me though, it’s about the town. They want a rugby club that’s all-inclusive and we want to get everyone pushing in the same direction, wanting the same things. It’s not about getting to Super League or getting to Wembley, it’s about young kids wanting to play for Oldham.
“But when you’re in competition you want to be the best, and I’ll come in and help the environment, the culture and the professionalism. How to make the team better, that’s definitely my skill-set. The other guys bring the business side of it, the finances – all the boring stuff. But I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into making this club better.”
