Castleford Tigers news: boss hits back at former star, insists payment issue 'blown out of proportion'
All Castleford Tigers’ 2025 players - including those who left at the end of the season - have now been paid, director of rugby Chris Chester says.
Prop George Griffin, who signed for Sheffield Eagles after departing Tigers in September, took to social media over the weekend to complain about successive late payments. However, Chester insisted there are “no issues” and hit back at Griffin over the way he voiced his concerns.
As reported earlier by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Griffin said in a message on X (formerly Twitter): “I really didn’t want to leave Castleford Tigers on a bad note as I enjoyed my time there, but for consecutive months now myself and everyone else that has left the club has received their contractual payment late and have been unable to pay their bills. No one at the club seems to know what's going on or passes blame to others. It seems Castleford Tigers need to stop shopping at Netto for their staff and start looking elsewhere.”
Chester responded at a press conference today (Monday) which was called to introduce new coach Ryan Carr. He said: “I think it’s disappointing to be sent it first and foremost on social media. All contracted players and staff were paid on Friday and the players that all signed compromise deals were paid today.
“As a club, we should have communicated that a little better, but I think everything has been blown out of proportion. There are no issues at the club. It’s indicative of the kind of culture we’ve had at the club in the past that they feel the need to put it out on their social media. We should have communicated that a little better, but it has all been sorted.”
Griffin’s supermarket reference appears to be a dig at Chester who, speaking in August about plans to strengthen Tigers’ squad for next season, said: “We’ve been shopping at Netto in the past, but now we're shopping at Sainsbury’s.” Asked if he regretted his comment, Chester said: “No, not really. I said that in the moment and I wish George Griffin well at Sheffield Eagles. We have moved on as a club and signed some top-quality individuals; top-quality players, top-quality people. The culture will be a different culture than we have had in the past.”