BRADFORD Bulls can announce the departure of Head Coach James Lowes.

It is with much sadness and reluctness the club has received and accepted the resignation of Head Coach James Lowes, who has stepped down for personal reasons.

The club puts on record its gratitude for the significant contribution James has made as Head Coach during his 22 months at Bradford Bulls and wish him every success in the future.

Matt Diskin with the support of Chev Walker will act as interim Head Coach as the process of seeking a replacement begins immediately.

James Lowes has agreed to conduct a complete hand-over to the performance department in preparation for the weekend’s game against Workington Town.

“This decision has come with a heavy heart and I have had to make this tough call for personal reasons, and I request everyone respects that,” said James.

“I would like to personally thank the players, directors, staff and especially, all the supporters of this great club for my time here.”

The club will be making no further comment.

Oh dear..

I'm not surprised really. He sounded like a beaten man after the Sheffield game. I was never totally convinced about his appointment, whilst he got us to the MPG and we were very close to going up we haven't kicked on and have looked poor this season. Getting a championship side promoted is a nigh on impossible job anyway so it's something of a poisoned chalice.

Best of luck to him, I'm sure his failure wasn't down to lack of effort. The bloke obviously cares about the club.

At least his replacement has a chance to salvage the season.

Morrison as replacement?

Agreed, can't accused him of not caring or giving his all, but i feel some of his qualities that made him a legend as a player let him down as a coach.

Wish him the best, think he is a brilliant assistant coach. Certainly leaves with my respect for falling on his sword and resigning instead of hanging on and trying to get a payment from the club.

My thoughts too.

More importantly, how long has Mick Gledhill known about this but chosen not to tell us?

He's already "in the know" as to who's interested!!!!

Wow. Amazed he jumped, really didn't expect that.

Thanks for the efforts, and for smoothing the process.

Well thats a relief... Maybe the season can be salvaged now and performances on the field match the potential on paper..

For me - the MPG was the turning point in my faith - a series of wierd and poor decisions that defied all logic that day.

Anyway, we need someone who is tactically sharp as a razor, can capture an audience eloquently, deal with the media, galvanize 20 odd blokes to pull together and is a great man manager..

Easy then!

Who comes to mind?

I don't have the answer myself!

Agreed. I'm glad but surprised he's done it this way. I have too many great memories of Jimmy as a bulls legend that I don't want tarnished by him hanging on to be fired. Thanks for all the effort Jimmy. I hope we don't rush the appointment, need to get it right, diskin will do a good enough job in the interim I suspect.

I'd be on the phone to Batley asking for a fee for Diskin's further professional development.

I have thought that for sometime. That touch of arrogance he displayed placed him a cut above other players, and his eye for the sudden individual opportunity made him lethal near the line
These traits are liabilities in the management of a team game.

I wish JL well.. he goes with honour.

Echo much of the above.

Thanks for your efforts Jimmy - a true playing legend that didn't quite make the transition to coach

But in short it was clear he wasn't the way forward.

I just hope there isn't any awful news in the "personal reasons" bit and it is a cover for him falling on his sword.

Good luck Jim

Personal issues?

Like what, he was told he was a crap coach and he took it personally?

I'm glad he's resigned. He could have walked as a Bradford legend or hung on to see himself become a villain. He chose the former. Good luck to Jimmy, whatever he does.

His coaching career has been a bit sporadic. Wire was hit & miss, Carnegie seems to have gone very well, then results last season were fine until the MPG, but there were questions over squad size & use last season & again this season. Squad use is purely Jimmy's responsibility but squad size and recruitment seems to have been Ferres' purview. So blame can be shared there.

But he is a true Bulls legend, never any question over his desire for the Bulls to get back to SL. Worked hard, but possibly communication let him down. I wish him well and his legacy is intact.

Mick's says Jose Mourinho is a shoe in.

He only takes jobs that offer the promise of about £150 million quid to spend. We ain't got a pot to pi$$ in.

I feel that perhaps he was given the choice of stepping down or getting stepped on.
He's smart enough to know when to walk away, I just hope the next man is chosen for his capability not sentimentality

I'd like to wish him well for the future - he's a Bulls' legend, after all. Many top players don't make it as coaches, so there is no great shock, or shame, in it.

I wonder how long the club has known? Clearly they must have been involved in coming to an agreement to terminate his deal, so I'd guess for at least a week. I wonder if any moves have been made?

Not sure where we go from here, Morro, if available, I'd take in a breath, otherwise, I guess it's waiting and seeing.

Jimmy you are still a club legend in my eyes and always will be, i wish you and your family the very best in the future and hope you have every success in the years to come.
I am sure you will always be welcome at Odsal

I think that if the performance from the Dewsbury game can be replicated on Sunday, then there's no need to rush to appoint someone as we may be in safe hands with Diskin.
But as the club have let him take the Batley job then we do, realistically need a long term replacement.

Trouble is, who will we get, as a lot of coaches that might inspire confidence are locked into other deals

At the end of the day, Disko was a player only a very short time back and, good as we were at Dewsbury, he's still very inexperienced as a coach. I'm far from sure we should be thinking about a 'first time' coach - we are a bigger club than that, imo. I think Glen Morrison has proved himself, though I'm not sure about his availability and I guess Dews would try pretty hard to keep him anyway.

I guess were in for an interesting time - let's hope we're not disappointed at the end of it!

What's Brian Smith up to these days?

I can't be the only one thinking...We don't need to be looking backwards at previous coaches and players to move this team forward.

Francis Cummins will be in charge next week