YORK City Knights are already putting a short-list together in the search for Chris Thorman’s successor as head coach.

The Press understands the Knights have been aware for several days that Thorman is set to leave the club at the end of this season after being approached to become an assistant at Huddersfield. He will start that new job once Paul Anderson takes over from the St Helens-bound Nathan Brown.

The Championship club are keeping tight-lipped on who they might be targeting as a potential new boss, but early names in the frame include former Hull KR and Halifax boss Martin Hall, ex-Knights favourite and former Halifax assistant and caretaker coach Damian Ball, former Batley boss Gary Thornton, who is now under-20s boss at Castleford, and current Hunslet coach Barry Eaton, although he is thought to have another year of his contract to run at South Leeds Stadium.

Francis Cummings, the former Leeds full-back who is now an assistant at Bradford, Featherstone number two Ryan Sheridan, and James Webster and Glenn Morrison, both assistants to Richard Agar at Wakefield, have also been mooted.

It is thought the Knights would prefer a full-time coach who could also take on Thorman’s roles in the community department and the York College rugby league development centre.

The Press understands Thorman’s two assistant-coaches, Mick Ramsden and Mick Cook, are not in the running but will remain in their current roles next year.

Both have jobs outside the game which preclude them from taking on head coach duties, and, in the recent past, former player Ramsden has been reluctant to jump into a hot seat, while Cook, who led the Knights to the 2005 National League Two title, has since been happy as a number two, firstly at Sheffield and then back at York.

The early notice of Thorman’s autumn departure gives the Championship outfit plenty of time to line up a new boss, but the timing of the news is still awkward.

In an ironic twist, his job offer – made by the Giants last week but kept under wraps since – came on the same day as Knights supremo John Guildford was telling The Press the Geordie would be in charge at York in 2013.

Thorman’s agreement at Huntington Stadium runs for another 16 months and Guildford had said his job was safe, despite picking up only his first league win at the tenth attempt on the previous Sunday.

The club, with Thorman at the forefront, had also been putting plans together for player recruitment for next season, but those plans will now be sidelined as they also look for a new head coach, while having the additional problem of finding a half-back to take on the 31-year-old’s playing mantle.

It is unclear – but unlikely – whether Thorman will still contribute to pinpointing end-of-season targets, although the contract offers that have gone out to some of the current squad do still stand.

Clubs can only officially approach players signed elsewhere from September 1 onwards, but The Press believes the Knights would be keen to name their new man long before then so he can have a say in recruitment.