Axe falls on Knights coach Woods

York City Knights have sacked coach Dave Woods just 12 months almost to the day since he guided them to promotion to the Co-operative Championship.

The club say they had a two-month rolling agreement with Woods, which either party were entitled to terminate within a two-year period.

In a statement, the club said: “As a result of the amount of travel time and cost incurred for Dave to travel between his home in Gateshead and his work at the Knights, coupled with family health problems, the club felt it had no choice but to make this difficult decision.

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“The cost of this travel has put greater strain on Dave as the club cannot afford to cover this on top of his regular pay and we are also aware that Dave would like a full-time position in the game, which the Knights are unable to give him.

“We believe doing this now gives Dave the opportunity to source employment elsewhere and spend more time with his family, which he has said on numerous occasions has been difficult for him to adjust to.

“The club would like to place on record that we appreciate the work he has done in his time at the club.”

Woods guided the Knights to victory over Oldham in the 2010 promotion play-off final and kept them in the Championship, albeit by default after Crusaders were denied a place following their withdrawal from Super League.

The Australian also took both Castleford and Gateshead to promotion in his previous jobs in England before not being retained by them.