Titans looking for new home and coach for Premiership challenge

The Titans are one of two rugby clubs named as possible future tenants of the new sports venue that is to be built on the site of Don Valley Stadium.

If the feasibility study is approved for the new £40m sports project in Attercliffe announced this week, and work is carried out on schedule, then the Titans and rugby league side Sheffield Eagles could become core tenants of an eight- to 10,000-seater stadium for the start of the 
2015-16 rugby union season.

To fulfil their ambition of one day returning to the Premiership, Rotherham Titans acknowledge that they have to move away from Clifton Lane, and there are no alternative options in their home town.

What name they will take should the move go ahead is something the club will look at further down the line, with the possibility of them being called the Sheffield Titans raised on Tuesday at the launch of the city’s new sports project.

“We have expressed a desire to be part of the Don Valley project providing the economic conditions work for us,” said Titans chairman Nick Cragg.

“The move has to be sustainable for us. We don’t want to have to be spending more money on facilities than we do on the team.

“The general feeling is that Clifton Lane has a limited life. With the best will in the world, if we have any aspirations of Premiership rugby then we need a better ground.

“We wanted to move into the New York Stadium but weren’t permitted and so we have to be pragmatic.

“There is no place in Rotherham where we could play.”

On the issue of the name, it is believed that some within the organisation would welcome changing the location title to Sheffield, or even South Yorkshire, to open up greater marketing and business opportunities for the Championship club.

Dropping the location altogether and rebranding as the Titans is also a possibility.

Any move to do either would likely be met with a passionate rejection from the Rotherham faithful.

Cragg said: “It is too early to tell where we are going to be with regards to the name.

“We’d be very careful how we proceed for obvious reasons.

“But there will always be rugby played at Clifton Lane, because that’s our spiritual home.”

With a long-term move across the border in the pipeline, Rotherham’s more pressing concern is who to appoint as head coach for next season following Alex 
Codling’s decision to leave the club at the end of the current campaign due to personal reasons.

Former Scotland A international prop McGee is one of three names on the Titans’ shortlist, with the 33-year-old coming to the end of his contract with National One side Wharfedale at the end of the season.

McGee has also been working in a consultancy capacity at Leeds Carnegie, helping them shore up their scrummaging department, a move that has paid instant dividends for a club still chasing a place in the Championship’s top four.

McGee, who on top of all that coaches the Leeds Metropolitan University team, said: “It’s really flattering for a young coach to receive that recognition for your hard work.

“The opportunity that came at Leeds has come off the back of my work at Wharfedale.

“If clubs want to name people and the media want to speculate then there’s nothing really that you can say.

“The speculation has been there for a while, and what it doesn’t do is help Wharfedale, when right now, they are my sole focus.”

Titans chairman Cragg confirmed: “Tommy is in the frame, he’s one of three people at this moment in time.

“We are not in any hurry. We are progressing steadily with the appointment of our next head coach and we won’t be making any rash decisions.”

Rotherham are seeking a local coach and McGee, with his background at Wharfedale and with Leeds – for whom he played from 2005 up until his retirement in 2010 – fits the bill.

McGee’s old team-mate Lee Blackett acted as caretaker coach in the transition between Andre Bester and Codling in November and has continued in a coaching capacity under the latter. It is understood he would want to carry on in a similar role next season, working under McGee.

McGee impressed with Leeds attitude

A HARD-working mentality and a desire to improve has been the root cause of Leeds Carnegie’s recent upturn in fortunes.

This is the verdict of Wharfedale coach Tommy McGee, who has been working with the club’s scrummaging department in recent weeks.

“What I’ve been impressed with most is the work ethic and the desire to get better,” said McGee, 33, whose return to the club has coincided with Leeds climbing into the Championship’s fourth and final promotion play-off place.

“They are reaping the rewards of that willingness to learn. It’s a young group of forwards and it’s great to see them putting what they learn into practice.”