York City Knights have defended the timing of James Ratcliffe’s dismissal – saying he has paid for erratic results over a long period.

The Knights have won their last two Championship One games to boost hopes of an assault on the play-offs, with the shock defeat of previously unbeaten Blackpool being followed by victory at London Skolars on Saturday.

But in between they lost at Keighley in the Northern Rail Cup quarter-final and general manager Ian Wilson said club chiefs had been disappointed by such inconsistency throughout Ratcliffe’s reign this season.

Former Castleford and Gateshead boss Dave Woods, who arrived as director of rugby in mid-April, now takes the coaching reigns, starting with tonight’s training session. He is also set to meet club chief John Guildford tonight to discuss long-term plans.

Wilson stressed the decision was “purely down to results”.

“Professional sport is a results game and ours have not been as good as we anticipated or wanted at the start of the season,” he said.

When queried about the timing, he said: “There’s never a good time for things like this. The result against Blackpool was good, but the week after at Keighley was not. We expected to win comfortably at London. There have been inconsistent performances really.

“It’s been a decision that’s been made due to results over the past few months, not the past few weeks. It’s not a reaction to one result in particular.”

Woods, the Australian who took both Castleford and Gateshead to promotion in his two previous jobs in English rugby league, was not part of the decision-making process. He was asked by Guildford to take over.

Woods said: “John said the results have not been what they thought they should be and they thought it best to move him on. I’ll speak with him properly tonight. Hopefully we can get something out of the rest of the season.”

Wilson, meanwhile, denied there had always been a plan in place to replace Ratcliffe with Woods should the team’s form not drastically improve. There are no plans, however, to bring someone in as a new director of rugby.

“Dave was brought in to work alongside the current coaches. We felt we now needed to make this decision,” said Wilson.

“There are still plenty of points to play for. We’re not going to get automatic promotion which was our goal, but there is still the possibility of getting to the grand final and maybe Dave Woods can help us to achieve that. If not, it gives him time to get things in place for next year. But we’re not giving up on this season. We feel we’re capable of getting through the play-offs and winning the grand final.”


The ups and downs of Ratcliffe’s reign

JAMES RATCLIFFE’S 11-month reign as head coach at York City Knights was beset by controversy from start to finish.

The 40-year-old replaced player-coach Paul March, with the Knights second in the table, in July 2009.

March and Ratcliffe, then director of rugby, had been suspended, along with four first-teamers, following a breach of club discipline at Headingley during a Leeds match. March was sacked, while Ratcliffe apologised for the affair and then took the reins.

Ratcliffe was also suspended for six months – four suspended – by the RFL on the eve of the 2010 season. This followed allegations of racially abusing a member of the public outside Heckmondwike School while Ratcliffe was in charge of the York College team the previous October.

Ratcliffe forfeited his roles in college and service area rugby after this, and reverted to his day job as a plumber.

He returned from the ban at the end of March but the writing appeared on the wall when the Knights employed Dave Woods as director of rugby in mid-April.

The club stressed they had no plans to change their coach, but, two months later, that change has now been made, with Ratcliffe sacked and Woods given the reins.

Ratcliffe had first arrived at Huntington Stadium ahead of the 2008 season as assistant to rookie player-boss March, the former Super League star, and was promoted to director of rugby 12 months later.

While he was assistant to March in 2008, the Knights took 12 games to get off the mark, in total winning 11 times, losing 16 and drawing three, although late good form saw them go into the Championship One play-offs on a high, only to lose to Rochdale in the first knockout match having finished sixth. In 2009, March and Ratcliffe won 11 and lost seven before the ‘Headingleygate’ suspensions.

Mick Ramsden, of the backroom staff, took temporary charge for a defeat at Blackpool before Ratcliffe took the reins, going on to win five games but lose three – including both play-off semi-finals, the team having finished third.

This season, while Ratcliffe was suspended, the Knights won six games – including against Championship big-guns Leigh en route to the Northern Rail Cup quarter-finals – and lost two, and, since his return, they have won four and lost seven.