Legendary coach John Kear makes shock return at West Yorkshire rugby league club
Coaching legend John Kear has made a shock return to one of his former clubs.
Kear, 70, has been appointed coach of Betfred Championship strugglers Batley Bulldogs until the end of this season. It is the current Wales chief’s second spell at Mount Pleasant after he was in charge there from 2011-2016, guiding them to the second-tier Grand Final 13 years ago.
Castleford-born Kear began his coaching career with Bramley, coached Sheffield Eagles and Hull FC to Challenge Cup final wins and famously saved Wakefield Trinity from relegation out of Super League in 2006.
After leaving Batley he returned to Wakefield as director of rugby and later had spells as team boss at Bradford Bulls and Widnes Vikings. He has been out of the club game since being sacked by Widnes two years ago today.
Bulldogs are third from bottom in the Championship and have won only two of their 13 league games this season. Mark Moxon, who joined the club as Kear’s assistant, resigned as coach last week. In a statement on social media, Batley chairman Kevin Nicholas said: “We decided we needed basically to get some experienced coach to take us to the end of the year as a temporary thing and then assess everything and get a new coach next season. We’ve just finished talking and agreeing terms with John Kear. In my view, it’s a great achievement getting him back to the club.”
Bulldogs play host to Sheffield Eagles - who are just one place and two points above them and are coached by ex-Batley boss Craig Lingard - on Sunday. Nicholas added: “[Kear] will probably come to training [today] . He won’t really be fully involved until next week, but he will be partly involved with the Sheffield game. He’s going to take us to the end of the year and hopefully improve things as best he can. He’ll clearly be a new voice. ”