Castleford plan to retain a full-time squad in the National League in a bid to bounce straight back into Super League.

The Tigers were relegated for the first time in their 78-year history after going down 32-28 at home to Wakefield in their last match of the season in a tense affair at the Jungle.

The outcome means that the current Castleford squad will almost certainly be broken up, with Super League contracts automatically becoming null and void.

At least five of their top players, including skipper Ryan Hudson and England prop Andy Lynch, thought to have already agreed moves to Bradford and Hull.

Chief executive Richard Wright said he was resigned to losing many of the club's leading players but hoped to retain the bulk of the squad.

"We hope to maintain a full-time squad," he said.

"Some of the guys want to stay in Super League and we can't blame them for that. But we would hope to retain most of the others.

"We need to let the emotion die down and then start to plan for next year. I have already done a bit of work on the salary cap in the National League."

Castleford could yet earn a reprieve if the winners of next month's National League Grand Final fail to meet the criteria for promotion to Super League but Wright virtually dismissed that theory.

"We don't hold out any hope in that regard," he said. "It's unlikely that it will happen."

Castleford coach Gary Mercer, who admitted the players were "absolutely devastated by relegation", said he hoped to stay with the club and urged the directors to make a decision on the coaching position "in three or four days".

"Life goes on," he said.

"I want to be a part of this club. My record shows that we have improved in my time here. The club needs to appoint a new coach in the next three to four days and recruit players who show passion and desire."

The Tigers won five of their last 10 matches to take the relegation battle down to the wire but Mercer admitted the club paid a heavy price for a woeful start to the season in which they lost their opening 11 games.

"If this team had started 2004, we would be in the top six now," he said. "We have showed a lot more consistency in our last 11 games."

Wakefield coach Shane McNally expressed his sympathy for the plight of his club's closest neighbours, saying: "Relegation is a negative thing.

"Cas don't deserve not to be in Super League. The way they played and the spirit they put into that game shows they deserve their spot.

"We will have to wait and see what happens. Things may still fall their way. I hope so."

Castleford 28 Wakefield 32

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We are relegated!!!

The team gave it their all tonight but it just wasn't enough.

We'll have to wait and see what will happen now - Will the Northern Ford winners meet the criteria for entry for Superleague ? Will Cas stay full time ? Who will be leaving ? Will we sack Mercer ?

Lots of unanswered questions but in the end, we left it too late to find a bit of form.

To the players who have tried all season (Ryan Hudson + a few others), well done - although disappointing, you can hold your heads high. To the players who didn't start to play until it mattered, you got what you deserved and shame on you!.

I hope that we manage to bounce back quickly - certainly a year in the lower league may do us good as 2 teams are relegated next year from Superleague. At least IF we can go back up at the first attempt, we'll only have to avoid bottom spot the year after.

I'm going to shout for Fev in the playoffs because there's no way they'll be allowed into Superleague :-)

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN ???

Widnes must LOSE

Cas must WIN

If this doesn't happen then we are relegated.

If this does happen then there needs to be a 24 point swing in our favour e.g. we win by 12 and so do Hull, or we win by 2 and hull win by 22 etc...

If this happens then it's a massive party time.

Not only that, it has to be the greatest escape ever in Rugby League.
 

COME ON THE TIGERS

Widnes 6 Castleford 7

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IT IS STILL POSSIBLE!!!

A gutsy performance this evening saw us gain a narrow victory but one that was essential to our survival.

I don't know why Sky thought he was a contender for man of the match because for me, Waine Pryce had a dreadful game and nearly lost us the match at the end. I'd think twice about playing him next week.

Apart from that, we dug in deep after being 6:0 down at half time and it was nailbiting stuff for the last 8 minutes.

Come on Hull and lets hope the Wildcats like us

Castleford 22 Salford 24

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Aarrgghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Next week really is our last chance now - If we lose we finish bottom of the table. If we win, it goes down to the last game of the season. In boxing terms, we are out on our feet but are still fighting, Just!!!

Leeds 64 Castleford 12

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Worse than expected. This was a club record defeat!!!

Finally an update - Sorry for the recent lack of info - I've been busy with other stuff including holidays but hopefully I'll be able to keep more up to date in future.

This has coincided with our best period of the season so far - We've now won 4 of our last 6 games and look like a decent, if not good, team.

The big BUT at the moment is whether we have left it too late - We are only 2 points behind Widnes (If they had lost yesterday we would have moved off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.

The match reports for the last 5 games I've missed can be found as usual in the section by clicking on

We play the Rhinos at Leeds on Friday night - A win there may be too much to hope for but if it happens then it is looking fairly good that we will stay up - Can't believe I just typed that - It sounds good doesn't it :-)

Castleford 24 Huddersfield 20

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You read the score correctly - WE WON!!!!!  Good game, good fighting 2nd half comeback and showed signs that we can still get out of this awful mess that we are in - Wow - I sound quite optimistic for the first time this season.

Unfortunately, the Rhinos let the Broncos get a point so we are still 3 points behind them - 2 more wins needed to move off the bottom - I think we can realistically win 5 games that we have left, which should be more than enough to stay up - Whether we will or not is another matter though - Well done to everyone.

Leeds 46 Castleford 14

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Not as bad as it could have been but we were thoroughly outclassed.

Castleford 12 Bradford 60

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Mmmmmmmmm - Got the thumping we all expected!!!

Salford 30 Castleford 14

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I'm afraid that it is now over - We need a 1st Division side to win the grand Final which hasn't got the criteria for Superleague - That's now our only hope!!!

We need 2 wins to catch London (providing they don't win again) and then we need an extra point from somewhere as our points difference is about the same as theirs.

It'll be interesting to see what becomes of the club next year in the 1st Division - I can't see many of the Stars (and I use this word loosely!!!) hanging around and any of our promising youngsters will want to be off to Superleague clubs.

Will the crowd stay and watch ? Will we be able to win in the 1st division ?

Sorry for being so pessimistic and full of doom and gloom but at this moment in time, I can't see a way forward.

Castleford 10 Warrington 32

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In a match I still stupidly thought we had a chance of winning, we were USELESS!!! Missed tackles, players looking lost on the field - I think we are already down despite what Mercer says and despite that I desperately hope I'm wrong.

St Helens 52 Castleford 8

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We got what we expected - Still are very very poor!!!

Castleford 18 Hull 52

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In a match I didn't expect us to win, we lost and lost badly - After grinding out a result last week, we collapsed again this time around and were dreadful to say the least.

Unfortunately, I now think we'll go down and to stay up will require a tremendous effort.

Sorry I can't be more positive but on that performance, we are rubbish.

London 10 Castleford 12

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Yes. yes, yes, yes, yes!!!! Our first 2 points of the season in a nail biter down in the capital.

We fought hard and managed to scrape a win against a poor London side.

Doesn't really matter about the performance, we just needed the win - This will hopefully have got us started and give us a bit of confidence to take it on from here and avoid relegation - We're now only 4 points behind 3 other sides so it's all to play for.

Castleford 32 Salford 36

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Oh No!!!  What is there to say - We looked as though we were trying throughout but blew a 12 point lead, then gained it back again then blew it again. Salford then went ahead before a late try got it more respectable.

Having watched the game, Castleford simply at this moment in time are not good enough to beat any superleague team!!!.

For all their effort, there is little ingenuity in the side and the forwards (Smith apart) do little to create breaks - when they do so, there is no backing up a lot of the time.

We are now 6 points adrift at the bottom of the table - I still believe we can stay up but we have to start winning soon - The other teams all seem capable of picking up points here and there so we need to follow suit before it's too late.

Having said that we can stay up, I'm also in the process of getting out my bus timetable so I know what time bus to catch for our Arriva Trains Cup visit to post office road next season (just in case!!!)

Gary Mercer has been appointed Head Coach until the end of the season. In a surprise move, Ellery Hanley has been brought in as Coaching Consultant also.

Bradford 44 Castleford 18

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Nothing unexpected here - The hard work will start in 2 weeks time against Salford

Castleford 28 Wigan 42

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3rd time this season we've conceded 42 points BUT, it was a much better performance.

The players all looked like they were up for it and gave their all - All I've ever asked for - Although Wigan ran away with it at the end, the match was close throughout and Paul Mellor had his best game in a Tigers uniform. I hope he can keep this sort of form up for the rest of the season.

So, the Bulls next week followed by a relegation battle with Salford the following week. If we can keep the momentum and effort up from last nights match, things should start to look better pretty soon.

Widnes 29 Castleford 18

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A disappointing start to Mercers coaching carer at Cas but the team did show a slight improvement.

Still, these are the games we need to start winning and we need to do it quickly if we are to avoid being relegated.

Graham Steadman today was relieved of his coaching duties at the club "by mutual agreement".

Gary Mercer will take over for the time being.

Castleford 10 Wakefield 42

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2nd game in a week when we have shipped in 42 points - And against the Wildcats as well - Things can't get any worse than this - Something needs to be done - Players still making lots of mistakes and don't seem able to play for a full 80 minutes. I'm still convinced that Steadman needs to go just to give the club something fresh in the way of coaching and ideas.

Castleford 34 London 42

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With Children reading this site, all I have to say is WHAT A LOAD OF POO I WITNESSED LAST NIGHT.

No one to blame - Everyone made stupid schoolboy mistakes and we looked a very poor side indeed - our 3 late tries embarrassed me more than anything as it was obvious that London had already packed up and gone home.

I said after the Hull game we needed 2 wins from out next 2 games for Steadman to keep his job - I now want him sacked - Not because he has done anything particularly wrong (except for a few bad buys) BUT, we need someone with fresh ideas and someone to give the players a kick up the backsides - I don't want to see us finish up like Halifax last season.

Hull 26 Castleford 4

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Listened to the game on the radio and we were awful - Things are not looking any better - I'm trying to be optimistic but there's little hope at the moment - I've been one for giving Steadman a chance but if we don't beat London and Wakefield next week, he's got to go.

Castleford 14 St Helens 24

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Still with no points but I think it's starting to look up - We'll have to wait until after the Hull game to see just how much better things may be getting but after that, home games against London and Wakefield are MUST wins

Warrington 32 Castleford 18

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Played 8 matches against Superleague Opposition, Lost 8 - Need a quick turn around and I can't see it in our next game against the Saints!!!

Hull 26 Castleford 0

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I don't need to say anything really - The game was a HUGE disappointment

Castleford 8 Leeds 34

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Another loss but a lot more effort and commitment shown by the team. I know that we still have 0 points BUT, I feel a lot better after this loss than I did after last weeks victory - Strange eh ?

We have drawn Hull at the KC Stadium in the next round of the cup.

Not an easy tie (but then what is at the moment), but one which we CAN win.

I hope that we are getting all our poor performances out of the way at the start of the season so we can put in a challenge at the end :-)))

Castleford 32 UTC 20

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A win at last but a very poor showing from Cas - Individual rugby was the order of the day with plenty of errors, poor tackling and no real idea on attack.

It does not bode well for the rest of the season and without being pessimistic, if we play like this next week, Leeds will put 50 past us.

We need to improve and quickly or without wishing to be too dramatic, we will be in a relegation struggle.

Huddersfield 26 Castleford 22

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My first visit to the McAlpine and probably my last!!! £16.50 to get in - Thieving B&%$ards!!!

Anyway, the game itself was quite entertaining for the 1st match of the season. Unfortunately we lost but I don't think we played badly.

As much as I'd like to blame the ref -  (he was REALLY bad - Even Steady had a few words with him at the end of the game), we made a few bad errors (different players) that let them back into the game and ultimately handed them victory.

Castleford 22 Hull 24

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Our 4th pre-season loss out of 4 but I for one am not bothered at all by this.

I see virtually no relationship between warm up games to get the players together and match fit, to how they will play once there is something on the line.

I think the scoreline tonight suggests that we are going to do okay this season.

Huddersfield 36 Castleford 0

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OH DEAR!!!!!

Bradford 56 Castleford 18

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Not a very promising start!!!!!

All the old news previously on this page can be found in THE TIGERS ARCHIVE